'i""%4 




Ancient Cii]] of iorgcana 



AND JlODIiKN 



TOWN OF YORK 



(MAINE) 



FKOM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT 
TO TiiE riiESENT TIME. 



ALSO 



ITS BEACHES AND SUMMER RESORTS. 



Written, Compiled, and Typographically Comji^dvj't- Uiir-/: -^^^ 
By GEO. ALEX. EMEKY. yV' _ ,!_ 

BOSTON:-:] ^•-^_:^-.-- ' 
1873. 



Entered according to Act of Congrest, in the year 1873, by 

GEORGE ALEX. EMERY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 

All Rights reserved. 



Stereotyped at the 

BOSTOiT STEEEOTiTE FOU>T)BT, 

19 Spring Lane. 






PREFACE- 



The history of most of the towns of New En- 
gland possesses principally a local interest, and 
perhaps there is nothing sufficiently distinctive in 
the records of the locality of which we have 
treated in this little volume to make the work _^ 
of more importance to the general reader. Yet, ' *, 
as York was one of the earliest settled of the 
seaports north of the Massachusetts Colony, and 
for a considerable time had a reputation among 
the better known of the towns planted upon the 
coast, there are events connected with it that 
afford material of value in a historical aspect, and 
which may entitle it more than many other places 
to be regarded as illustrating the manners, the 
customs of living, and the general characteristics 

of the towns of its class for many years after its 

original settlement. 



VI Preface. 

While the town had been stationary, if not 
nearly retrograding, for many years up to a recent 
date, its advantages as a watering-place have 
since then attracted increasing attention, and have 
given a new impulse to its growth, the effect of 
which is palpably apparent. It is now widely 
known as one of the most eligibly situated and 
altogether desirable of sea-side resorts. The 
efforts made to improve the natural attractions of 
the place, by providing for the comfort and fur- 
nishing facilities for the enjoyment of those who 
visit it, have greatly added to its popularity. It 
has entered upon a new stage in its career, and 
before this is completed the town is likely to 
have a national fame. Its position invites this, 
and the intelligent efforts of those who had the 
sagacity to appreciate its resources as a watering- 
place have improved and utilized what nature has 
done in this respect. It is with a view to interest 
not alone the inhabitants of the vicinity, but the 
thousands who will be brought to know it through 
its associations as a place of summer residence, 
that this brief record of its history has been 
prepared. 



INDEX. 



Agamenticus, Mount, 

Agamenticus, or York river, 

Ancient Plantations, . 

Anecdote of Rev. John Brock, 

Apple-tree, old, 

Aspinquid, Saint, 

Attempts to enslave Savages, 

Baptist Churches, 

Barren, Jonathan Sayward, . 

Barren, Nathaniel, . 

Barren's Mill, - • 

Bartering for Fish, Furs, and Oil, 

Booker, Esther, and Betty Totter, 

Boon Island, 

Bowden House, 

Brick making, . 

Brock, Rev. John, . 

Brooks, Solomon, 

Burdet, Rev. Mr., . 



. 


17 


, 


16 


. 


13 


, 


66 


. • • 


64 


. 


88 


, , 


39 


. 159, 


ICO 


. « • 


51 


, 


51 


, . 


51 


> • * 


37 


. 149- 


-151 


. 118- 


-120 


. 


176 


. 


175 


, , 


. 66 


. 161 


171 


• • 


43 



VIII 



Index, 



Burroughs, George, . 

Cane Hephzibah and Polly Austin, 

Cape Xeddock House, 

Carlisle John, .... 

Census of York, early. 

Census of York, late, . 

Cider Hill, . . . . * 

City of Gorgeana, .... 

Clams, enormous. 

Clerical Imbroglio, at Shoals, 

Coasting and Fisliing, 

Cochranites, ..... 

Colby, Dr. Benjamin, 

Cold Weather, .... 

Congregational Church, . 

Court-house, 

Cruelty to Children, . 

Danfortli, Thomas, 

Dark Days, .... 

Davis, Isaac, and his wife CUloe, . 

Deed of York, .... 

Dennett, Mark, .... 

Devil's Invention, 

Dow, Lorenzo, .... 

Dow, Rev. Moses, 

Ducking-stool, .... 

Dummer, Rev. Shubael, . 

Earthquakes, .... 



Index. i^ 

CO 

Eastman, Dr. Caleb, °^ 

Emerson, Edward A., • • • • ' 

Fernald, Elder Mark, ^^^ 

Ferry, first one in York, . . • • 
Freshet in Western States, . . • • ^^ 

Garde, Roger, 29' ^0 

Garrison Houses, 40 

Gibson, Rev. Richard, . . . • '^^ 

Gilman, Dr. Josiab, 

Godfrey, Edward, 1^' 21 

Goodwin, Rev. Charles E., . • • • ^^^ 



Gorgeana, City of, o^ 

Gorges, Capt. William, 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, . . • • 26 



27 
Gorges, Thomas, * 

Gosnold, Capt., . . • • • ' yt 

Grant, Charles A., ^^^ 

Grist-mill, * i"n 

Haunted House, . . • » • 1^7, loO 

Howard, Josephus, 

Hubbard, Elizabeth, . • • * ^ ' ^^ 
Huckleberry Islands, . . . • 174, 186 
Indians, Appetite for Fire-water, . . -HO 
Indians, Negroes, and Slaves, proscribed, . 107 

Indians sold for Slaves, ^^ 

Indian War, ^^^ 

Infant School, J 1^^ 

Irish Emigrants, . . • • 162-164 



^ Index, 

Isles of Shoals, . . . , 

Jacobs, Mary, .... 

Jail, the Old, 

Kiiuball, Rev. Reuel, . 

Langton, Rev. Samuel, . 

Limits and extent of York, 

Lnnt, Samuel, • . . . 

Lyman, Dr. Job, 

Lyman, Rev. Isaac, 

Lyman, Theodore, and Timothy, 

Matfitt, Rev. John N., 

IMaine, Charter and Legislature of, 

M'Intire, Major Alexander, 

MTntire, Micum, . . , ^ 

MTntire, Colonel Jeremiah, 
Marshall, George A., . 
•Marshall House, 
Marshall, Nathaniel G., 
Medoc or Mugg Indians, . 
Methodist Church, 
Military Training, or Muster, . 
Miracle of Rev. John Brock, 
Moody, Madam, .... 
Moody, Rev. Samuel, . 
Moody, Howard, 
Nasson, Mary, 
Negroes and Indians, 
Negro Music, 



Index. 



XI 



Norton and Leavitt, 

Ordination Expenses, 

Paris, Rev. Mr. . 

Pliillis, Black, 

Physicians, 

Pond, Rev. Benjamin W., 

Preble Abraham, 

Primitive School, . 

Prince, Dinah, . 

Putnam, Dr. Jeremiah S., . 

Quarrel, Ecclesiastical, 

Raid on Lord Proprietor's Property, 

Raynes, Misses Betsey and Eleanor, 

Revolution at the Shoals, 

Rollins, Dinah, 

Savage, Capt. Thomas, . 

Sayward, Elder Jonathan, and Joseph, 

Scalawags, 

Schools and Schoolhouses, 

Schools, early, 

Scituate, , 

Sea Cottage, .... 

Sewall's Bridge, .... 

Sewall, Capt. Joseph, . 

Sewall, David, 

Sewall, Judge David, . 

Sewall, Major Samuel, 

Sham Eight, 



. 175 
. 121 
95 
. 143 
82 
. 74 
G4 
. 170 
. 140 
. 173 
43 
. 27 
. 145 
. 43 
. 14G 
. IGl 
51 
. 1G5 
152 
. IIG 
. 1G7 
. 17G 
122-125 
. 124 
. 162 
. 65 
. 123 
114, 115 



XII 



Index, 



Shower of Meteors, . . . ^ 
Shipwreck at Boon Island, . 
Short Sands and Beach, . 
Simpson, Henry, and Benjamin, . 

Slave, a Parish, 

Smith, Capt. John, 

Snow, Snow-shoes, and Snow-storms, 

Spirits, 

Stacey, William, . . . . * 

Stage Neck, 

Stevens, Charles, .... 

Talpey, Cassar, 

Temperance Customs, 
Tetherly, William, 
Vessels formerly built here. 
Ward, Cffisar, and his wife Tamar, 
Ward, Rosanna Frances Bassett, 

Webber, Samuel, 

Wilcox, Capt. David, 

Witchcraft, Witches, and Wizards, 

Women, Goats, and Swine not permitted 

Isles of Shoals, .... 
Wreck on Stage Neck, .... 

York assailed, . 

' • • • • 

York, Productions of, . 

York Records, . 

York, settlement of, ... . 

Young, Elder Peter, .... * 



172- 
. 188 
18G 
85, %Q 
77 
. 34 
58 
. 127 
132 
. 49 
138 
. 16G 
83 
. 132 
. 16, 177 
. 1G6 
1G6 
. 92 
. IGO 
. 89 
at 

46 

. 180 

100-107 

. 133 

49 

. 19 

. 160 



Intimt Citw of 6otgca«a 

AND 

MODERN TOWN OF YORK. 

The ancient maritime town of York, on the 
Atlantic coast, located in lat. 43° 10' north, 
long. 70° 40' west, is bounded south-east by 
the Atlantic Ocean, north-east by Wells, 
north-west by South Berwick, and south- 
west by Kittery, settlement* of which, 
according to Edward Godfrey and others, 

* The first settlement in Maine was at Kittery, 
in 1623. Kittery, Saco, Wells, York, are often 
spoken of, by writers ancient and modern, as 
the " Ancient Plantations." According to Wil- 
liamson's History of Maine, Agamenticus settle- 
ment was incorporated A.D. 1639, containing one 
hundred and fifty souls. The Isles of Shoals con- 
tained, the same year, two hundred inhabitants. 



U Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

began a few years after the landing of the 
Pilgrims in the Mayflower, at Plymouth 
(1620), and was then called Agamenticus, 
or Accomenticus — signifpng in the Indian 
tongue "o?i the other side of the river.^'' 
This was the name of a mountain six hun- 
dred and eighty feet high, consisting of three 
elevations, situated in the north part of the 
town, about five miles from the sea. It is 
not steep, rocky, or broken, but is covered 
with woods and shrubs, interspersed with 
small patches of pasture, and large crowning 
rocks which form its summit. It is a noted 
landmark for mariners, and is the first height 
seen by them from the sea on the coast 
northward and eastward of Portsmouth. 
This mountain is supposed to have been the 
land first discovered by Capt. Gosnold, the 
English navigator, in 1602. He is thought to 
have made a landing at the Nubble, near York 
" Long Beach," and called it Savage Rock. 
The village part of York is situated ninety- 



Modern Toivn of York* 15 

nine miles south-west from Augusta, forty- 
five miles south-west by south from Portland, 
twenty-two miles south-south-east from Al- 
fred, and nine miles north by east from 
Portsmouth, N. H. The population of this 
town in early times amounted to only a few 
hundreds. 

At this time Indian tribes were scattered 
throughout the neighborhood and all around 
the suburbs, keeping the settlers in constant 
fear and jeopardy of their lives, they being 
at the mercy of these cruel barbarians, more 
especially in winter, who came on snow- 
shoes, often surprising the unwary and 
almost defenceless inhabitants in the severest 
weather and on the darkest nights. 

The principal harbor is formed by York 
river, with water sufficient for vessels of two 
or three hundred tons burthen. The entrance, 
however, which is directly in fhe rear of the 
Marshall House, is difficult, being narrow 
and crooked. 



16 A7icient City of Gorgeana, 

Adventurers and searchers after fossils 
have asserted that clams have been dug on 
the borders of this river, north of the site 
of the Barrell Mill-dam, measuring over a foot 
in diameter. 

Agamenticus, or York river, receives no 
considerable supply from its short fresh watei 
stream above the head of the tide, and con- 
quently is indebted to the ocean for its 
existence. Its length of flood-tide is seven 
miles. Much shipping was formerly carried 
on here. Warehouses and wharves were 
numerous Many vessels, several of them 
ships, were built on this river. 

The other harbor is Cape Neddock, 
about four miles north-east of the former. 
The latter is navigable for about a mile 
jfrom the sea at full tides only, it having a 
sand-bar at its mouth sufficient to prevent 
vessels of any considerable draft from pass- 
ing at low-tide. 

Four miles distant easterly from York 



Moderti Toivn of YorJc, 17 

harbor, a part of which is a most beauti- 
ful beach of white sand, is Cape Ncddock 
river, a stream flowing from the foot of 
Mount Agamenticus. It receives its waters 
from the sea, has a sand-bar at its mouth, 
and is so small of itself as to be fordable 
at half-tide. It is never navigable more 
til an a mile from the ocean at high- water. 
On the south-west of the river, and at the 
upper end of " Long-sands-bay," is the 
" Nubble," which is nothing more than a 
small-sized hillock. This Nubble is the 
nearest land to Boon Island, which is about 
seven miles distant. 

In view of what this town is at present 
and what it ought to have been, the follow- 
ing, from the pen of the Hon. Nathaniel G. 
Marshall, describes it, in quite a dolorous 
strain : 

" The whole province now called the State 
of Maine was granted, prior to lGo9, by 
King Charles I. to Ferdinando Gorges, who 



18 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



sent his nephew, Thomas Gorges, here to 
select a site for the centre of his operations. 
He selected this place, and was so pleased 
with the locality as to bestow upon us the 
honor of being denizens of the first European 
City on the American Continent.^ Of this 
we should be and are proud, although clothed 
now in a garb of the lowest humility. We 
were sold out to a rival company, as it were, 
for ' thirty pieces of silver,' and crucified on 
the altar of the ambition of the Massachusetts 
Bay Company ; and, after enjoying our city 
charter for a brief period, became a town in 
1653. For a while we continued a town of 

* Great discrepancies exist in both Gazetteers 
and Histories regarding dates. It is claimed for 
St. Augustine, Florida, to be " the oldest city [?] 
in tlie United States, having been settled by the 
Spaniards forty-three years earlier [1565] than 
Jamestown, Virginia, by the EngHsh." And 
for the latter place : " This is the oldest English 
settlement in the United States, having been made 
in 1G08." 



Modern Toivti of York, 19 



much note, this place being the seat of jus- 
tice for the whole province of Maine for a long 
period. But we commenced to dwindle by 
degrees, until now we are comparatively 
isolated from the rest of mankind. Our 
young men, who possess little ambition, go 
from among us, and, for want of facilities to 
visit the place of their birth, stay away. 
Occasionally, a few, attracted by old associa- 
tions, stray towards their natal place, feel a 
kind of sorrowful interest for it, and are anx- 
ious to learn the state of affairs existing at 
the time. To such an extent have we fallen 
in our own and the estimation of other 
neighboring places, that we hardly have a 
heart to relate our sorrowful condition." 

ETTLEMENT OF YORK. 

This town was foraied from a portion of 
the territory granted by the Plymouth Coun- 
cil, in 1622, to Gorges and Mason. In 1629 
they divided their interest: Mason taking 



20 Ancient City of Gorgeana* 

that part of the grant west of the Piscataqua 
river, and Gorges the eastern portion. In 
1635, the Pl5'mouth Council resigned this 
patent and took a new one, which they 
divided into twelvg portions. The third and 
fourth portions comprised the territory be- 
tween [the Kennebec and Piscataqua rivers, 
sixty miles wide, and extending one hundred 
and twenty miles north from the sea-coast, 
which was granted to Gorges. Charles I. 
revoked the charter to the Council, and 
granted the same territory to Gorges, 
April 3, 1G39. 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges, standing high in 
royal favor, had almost absolute powers 
granted him in his charter from the king. 
He was ambitious to found a state . that 
would rival Massachusetts ; and being 
pleased with a description of the place, 
which he had previously obtained, he 
selected Agamenticus, as the first settle- 
ment was here named, for the seat of his 
government. 



Modeini Town of Yorh, 21 

" The officers whom Gorges appointed by 
liis commission of March 10, 1639, were 
William Gorges * who lived at Accomenticus, 
Richard Vines of Saco, Henry Jossylyn of 
Black Point, Francis Champernoon of Pis- 
cataqua, now Kittery ; Richard Benython of 
Saco, who was his nephew ; William Hook 
of York, and Edward Godfrey of Kittery." 
These men were councillors for the due exe- 
cution of the government, according to an 
ordinance annexed to the authority delegated 
in the commission. He intrusted the imme- 
diate management of it to Capt. William 
Gorges, a young gentleman of rank and am- 
bition, and to Francis Norton, who, having 
by his own merits risen from a common 
soldier to a lieutenant-colonel, was desirous 
to advance his fortune. 

Ferdinando Gorges was born at Ashton 

* The house in which William Gorges lived was 
situated on the north-easterly bank of York river, 
a few rods above Rice's bridge. The cellar can 
etill be seen. 



22 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

Phillips, in the year 1573, of an ancient but 
not opulent family. He was devoted to the 
episcopacy, and wished to promulgate this 
with all those under his government, or 
within his control. This did not suit the 
views of a majority of the liberal-minded 
colonists. Being thus divided in sentiment, 
they soon became unfriendly to each other ; 
and the popular principles held by Massa- 
chusetts were too inviting to allow them to 
resist the opportunity to emigrate there. 
Gorges, who had been an officer in the 
British navy, and governor of Plymouth in 
England,^ was urged by the poverty of 
his situation, as compared with others of his 
rank, to undertake some adventure that 
might increase his rent-roll in order to swell 
his coffers. His expectations were very 
great from this American enterprise ; but, as 
will be seen, his hopes were not realized. 
He sowed the wind and reaped the whirl- 



Modern Town of York, 23 



wind, and he finally complained of having 
obtained for his toil only vexation and dis- 
appointment. 

When Sir Ferdinando Gorges was sixty 
years of age, he was given a commission of 
Governor General over the whole of New 
England. A man of war was in prepara- 
tion to bring him hither, which was to 
remain here for the defence of the country. 
But in launching she keeled over on her side 
and was broken, the enterprise failed, and Sir 
Ferdinando never saw America. The death 
of Capt. John Mason was clironicled soon 
after. ^ 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges was a very ambi- 
tious and a very unfortunate man in his enter- 
prises. His aim was to accumulate a fortune, 
achieve a character, and establish himself as 
a ruler of as large a tract of territory and 
over as many people as possible. In order 
to perpetuate his reputation as lord proprie- 



24 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

tor, he gave to the plantations of York the 
name of Gorgeana. The earliest grant of 
lands in York is by a deed from Sir Ferdi- 
nando to his nephew,^- Thomas Gorges, of 
five thousand acres, of land on the York 
river (then called Organug), and the lands 
embraced within the Hmits then termed J^a- 
merdicus. This deed was granted in the 
seventeenth year (1641) of the reign of 
Charles I., and by his sanction ; and seizin 
and possession was given in 1642. From 
the year 1642 to 16o.3, the grant of lands in 
York by the agents of Sir Ferdinando were 
very frequent and numerous. 

^ The home government, jealously thinking 
his progress and power in advance of their 
ideas, and not calculated to benefit them, 

* Williamson styles Thomas Gorges both grand- 
son and nephew of Sir Ferdinando, and Sullivan 
terms him nephew. In Sir Ferdinando's charter, 
or grant, he calls him his " cosen." 



Modern Town of York' 25 



undertook to check liim by accusing him of 
converting to his own uses that which should 
be made to enhance their interests, if not to 
swell their own coffers. His defence was 
able, but was not considered satisfactory, viz. : 
that he had never transcended their rights, 
and no monopoly had been engaged in or 
enjoyed to the detriment of the colony or 
home government. 

Sir Ferdinando, through his agents sent to 
America, being zealous to establish his name 
and power as lord proprietor, and also to 
further the other objects of his inciting, 
undertook more than could be accomplished 
in the ordinary lifetime of any mortal, even 
under the most favorable auspices. The 
Isles of Shoals were also included in his 
dominions. 

A company of emigrants which were fii'st 
sent out by him consisted of artificers and 
laborers, and as he had learned the wants of 
settlers in a new country, they were provided 
with implements, machinery, oxen, &c., with 



20 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

which to clear away the forests, build ships, 
manufacture lumber, and cultivate the 
ground. A settlement was accordingly com- 
menced on the eastern side of the river, near 
the sea, south of the present mill-site and 
pond ; and afterwards no other plantation of 
Gorges' so constantly and so fully received 
bis patronage and favor. 

FOUNDATION OF THE CITY OF GOEGEANA. 

King Charles L, in the patent granted 
to Ferdinando Gorges, prior to the year 1639, 
endowed him with more power than had ever 
been conceded by a sovereign to a subject. 
He enjoined in particular the establishment 
of the Episcopal religion. 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges, meeting with dis- 
appointment and much opposition in the 
general system of American affairs, deter- 
mined to plant a small colony at his own 
expense. He had been previously informed 
of a short salt-water river, admitting vessels 



Modern Totvn of TorJc. 27 



to a safe harbor and good anchorage, at and 
above its mouth, called Agamentiais (York) ; 
its situation being nearly equidistant from a 
mountain of that name and the river Piscat- 

aqua. 

An extract from Gov. Winthrop's journal 
contains the following: -In the summer of 
1640, Thomas Gorges arrived, accompanied 
by the Lord Proprietor as his deputy gover- 
nor of the Province. His instructions were, 
to consult and counsel with the magistrates 
of Massachusetts as to the general course of 
administration most expedient to be pursued; 
and such were his own resolutions, that he 
determined to discharge the duties of his 
office with fidelity and promptitude." 

At Agamenticus he found affairs, both 
private Tnd public, in lamentable disorder. 
The lord proprietor's buildings, which had 
cost him such large sums of money, were in a 
state of great dilapidation ; his own mansion 
was hardly habitable, and was stripped of 
everything, as expressed by one of his suite, 



^^ Ancient City of Gorgcana. v 



destitute of furniture, refresl.ments, rum, 
candles, or milk ; his personal property was 
squandered ; notliing of his household stuff 
remaining but an old pot, a pair of tongs, 
and a couple of andirons. 

Gorges, elevated by a partial success, and 
actuated by those generous designs, deter- 
mined to erect the borough and land adja- 
cent into a - city ;" and accordingly executed 
another and more perfect charter, dated 
March 1, 1640, by which he incorporated a 
territory of twenty-one square miles and the 
inhabitants upon it into a body politic, which 
lie, evidently in compliment to his own 
name, called " Gorgeai^a." The whole lay 
m the form of a parallelogram, with the York 
river for its south-westerly boundary, extend- 
ing up seven miles from its mouth, and three 
miles upon the sea-shore. Its limits were 
three miles each way, radiating from the 
"Church Chapel or Oratory" of the plan- 



Modern Totvn of Yorh, 29 



tation, and situated on the east of York 
river. 

The inhabitants had the power to elect a 
mayor and eight aldermen, annually, hold 
estate to any amount, and do many other 
things; and, furthermore, were authorized 
to hold courts, erect fortifications, and govern 
themselves as any other body politic. But 
no particular obedience was paid to Gorges' 
authority, and the inhabitants governed 
themselves, as did the patriarchs of old : by 
associations. In fact, they viewed his as- 
sumed power as a very weak kind of aris- 
tocracy, likely to be of short duration. 

This was the first grant of incorporation 
for a city in America, viz. : an English city 
charter, dated in 1G40. Thomas Gorges was 
mayor, with the following list of aldermen : 
Edward Godfrey, Roger Garde, George Pud- 
dington, Bartholomew Barnett, Edward John- 
son, Arthur Bragdon, Ilcnry Simpson, John 



30 



Ancient City of Gorgeana. 



Rogers. Mr. Garde was also appointed re- 
corder. Descendants of some of this board 
are still residents of the town. 

" The police consisted of a mayor, twelve 
aldermen, twenty-four common coimcilmen, 
and a recorder, annually elected in March, by 
the citizens and freeholders. The mayor and 
aldermen were ex-officio justices, and had 
the appointment of four sergeants, whose 
badge was a luhite rod, and whose duty it 
was to serve all judicial precepts." 

In 1644, a woman was tried in the mayor's 
court for the murder of her husband, and con- 
demned and executed. The officers of the 
province, by invitation of the mayor, assisted 
at the trial. 

"The form of public worship. was to be 
Episcopalian. Thomas Gorges returned to 
England in 1643, and Eoger Garde became 
mayor in his stead. 

"While Sir Ferdinando's province was 



Modern Toivn of YorJc. 31 

deeply involved in difficulties, he died in 
England, in 1647, aged seventy-four years — 
about two years before the execution of 
Charles I., his royal master, who was be- 
headed January 30, 1649. Seldom is a sub- 
ject more firmly attached to his monarch! 
On hearing of the proprietor's death, and 
being left to themselves, a convention was 
called by the people of Gorgeana, and after 
discussing their rights, duties, and difficul- 
ties, the inhabitants of Gorgeana, Kittery, 
Wells, and the Isles of Shoals formed them- 
selves into a confederacy for mutual protec- 
tion and the just administration of govern- 
ment." * 

* An old account, copied from a MS. letter of 
Hon. M. Dennett, reads tlius : '■^Kittery is the first 
and oldest iown in the state — Gorgeana being a 
city corporate, not a ioivn. The Navy Yard, 
Badger's, Trefethen's, Clark's, Cutts's, and Ger- 
rish's Islands belong to Kittery. The town 
records begin March 19, 1G4S. The town was 



32 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



In the courts held under Gorges, there was 
no division of the judicial, executive, or legis- 
lative powers, but the general courts made 
laws and tried cases, and by their own mem- 
bers caused their sentences to be executed. 
The same method prevailed when his govern- 
ment had lost its power, and the people had 
entoered into associations for civil purposes. 
Their records were filled with cases which at 
this day would be considered in the light of 
literary curiosities : — singular laws, whimsi- 
cally arranged in the books. For instance : 
in the same paragraph, perhaps, will be found 
a law for the encouragement of killing wolves, 
and another for the baptism of children. 
Civil actions and criminal were alike decided 
by the General Court, and all this in a style 
and manner that could hardly fail to excite 



divided; Berwick was incorporated June 9, 1713, 
and Eliot, March 1, 1810. The town produces 
annually one thousand barrels of cider, but no 
wheat." 



Modern Toivn of Tork. 33 

ridicule rather than command respect, such 
was the mode in which they were mixed to- 
gether. The following is a specimen of them : 
" Nov. 22, 1652. — The commissioners held 
their court and the inhabitants appeared, and 
after some tyme spent in debatements, and 
many questions answered, and objections re- 
moved, with full and joint consent, acknowl- 
edged themselves subject to the government 
of the Massachusetts in New England ; only 
Mr. Godfrey did forbeare, untill the voate 
was past by the rest, and then immediately 
he did by word and voate express his consent. 
Mr. Nicholas Davis was chosen and sworne 
constable. Mr. Edward Rishworth was 
chosen recorder, and desired to exercize the 
place of clarke of the writts. Mr. Henry 
Norton was chosen marshall there. John 
Davis was licenced to keep an ordinary and 
to sell wine and stronge Avater, and for one 
yere he is to pay but twenty shillings the 
butt. Phillip Babb of Hogg Hand was 



34 Ancient City of Gorcjeana. 



appointed constable for all the Hands of 
Shoales, Starre Hand excepted." 

In 1652, Massachusetts assumed control 
of this colony ; the city charter was revoked, 
the name changed to York, and an incor- 
poration as a town granted, with limits 
enlarged, probably, nearly to those now 



existing. 



In 1834 a small part of York was added to 
South Berwick, since which there have been 
no changes in boundary. 



CAPT. JOHN SMITH. 

This celebrated man has so much connec- 
tion withf this history as to deserve some par- 
ticular notice. He was born in Willoughby, 
England, A. D. 1579. In 1596, when he 
was seventeen years of age, he made the tour 
of Europe ; killed three Moslem champions 
in single combat, was honored with a tri- 
umphal procession, and was for some time 



Modern Town of Tor 7c, 35 

held a prisoner in Turkey. During his sub- 
sequent remarkable adventures in this coun- 
try, his life was saved by the celebrated 
Indian princess, Pocahontas. He died in 
London, A. D. 1631, aged fifty-two years. 
lie was bold and magnanimous in disposi- 
tion, and in talents, integrity, and persever- 
ance, by no means inferior to Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges himself. Though at the time of our 
narrative only about thirty-five years of age, 
he had been a great traveller, was a very 
conspicuous adventurer in Virginia, and in 
1608 was made prisoner by the Colonial 
Council. So far had his virtues and adven- 
turous spirit given his name celebrity among 
his countrymen, especially the English mer- 
chants trading in America, that, on his 
leaving America, they readily took him into 
their own service, for the triple purposes of 
discovery, settlement, and trafiic. 

With an outfit of two vessels, a ship and 
bark, carrying forty-five men, he sailed 



36 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

from London, March 8, 1614, having instruc- 
tions from the government to remain in the 
northern country and found a colonial settle- 
ment, or at least keep possession. 

This was characteristic of orders given by 
King James I. to all expeditions sent out, 
viz., " to hinder any foreigner from settling 
there upon any pretence whatever." Smith 
shaped his course for the Sagadahock river, 
and says : "I was to have staid there with 
only sixteen men." He arrived at Monhegan 
the last of April, and immediately entered 
upon the business of his voyage, by taking 
possession, at the mouth of Sagadahock river, 
of all the neighboring land and water. He 
constructed seven boats, in some of which 
himself and eight men explored the coast, 
east and west, to Penobscot river and Cape 
Cod, trading with the natives for beaver and 
other furs, and making observations on the 
capes, harbors, islands, rivers, and shores. 
His men employed themselves, also, in taking 



Modern Toivn of Yor1c» 37 

whales found in these waters, by pursuing 
which they lost the best part of the fishing 
season ; nor were they, when caught, of 
the kind expected, " which yields furs and 
oil." Still more futile was the visionary 
story reported about gold and copper mines 
abounding on this coast, it being ascer- 
tained, on inquiry, to be a baseless fabric of 
fiction. 

Nevertheless, the fruits of this voyage 
were of great value and variety. The party 
obtained, in exchange for mere trifles, six- 
teen thousand beaver, one hundred martin, 
and as many otter skins ; they also took and 
cured forty thousand dry fish and seven thou- 
sand cod-fish, corned or in pickle. The net 
value realized by those interested was about 
one thousand pounds sterling ($5,000). 
From the same vicinity that year (1614) 
twenty-five thousand skins were sent to 
France. Further eastward European com- 
modities were not so much esteemed by the 



38 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



natives, because the French traders bartered 
then- articles on better terms. 

Captain Smith, on exploring the borders 
of the coast between Cape Cod and the 
Penobscot river, says he saw upon the land 
*' forty several habitations," or " Indian vil- 
lages," and enumerates twelve differcTnt tribes 
by name, residing east of the Piscataqua. 
One of the most numerous seemed to be the 
Medoc or ^hi^g tribe, supposed to be the 
ancestors of those troublesome savages now 
located in and around the "Lava Beds" of 
California. Smith mentions the fact that 
these Indians did not differ in fashion, gov- 
ernment, or language, on the coasts of 
Maine, New Hampshire, and as far south as 
Naumkeag (Salem, Massachusetts) ; but from 
the latter place to Cape Cod, he found they 
differed somewhat in condition, custom, 
and language. He had only one skirmish 
with them, and in this some of the Indians 
were killed. Smith sailed for England July 



Modern Toivn of York, 39 



6, 1615, while his companion, Capt. Thomas 
Hunt, purposely tarried behind to monopo- 
lize the trade and steal savages. W'hen he 
afterwards sailed from Plymouth for Spain, 
he seized twenty-four Indians, carried them 
to Malaga, and sold them to the Spaniards 
for one hundred dollars apiece. Some of 
these captives were named Squanto or Tis- 
quantmuy Wanope or Wanawet, and Samoset, 
the latter of whom said, in 1621, after his 
return, he was a Sagamore about Monhegan. 
At Gibraltar, the convent friars took those 
that were unsold for the purpose of christian- 
izing them. 

About the time Captain Smith was sur- 
veying the New England coast, a most 
destructive war broke out among the savage 
tribes, which continued two or three years. 
Gorges despatched an expedition in the sum- 
mer of this year to Sagadahock, with the 
artful Indian Epenoiv^ and other natives, for 
the purpose of learning more of the reported 



40 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



gold mines, and of adding new facts to his 
stock of knowledge. Epenow escaped by 
jumping overboard not far from Martha's 
Vineyard, and with him vanished the 
Englishman's glittering visions of gold. 
Then came famine, pestilence, and war, fol- 
lowing each other in rapid succession, and 
the mortality was the greatest known there 
since the settlement of the country. 

It was a prevailing sin of these early times 
to treat the aborigines of this country as if 
they were designed only to gratify the 
cupidity and passions of their civilized con- 
temporaries, although the British king had 
given instructions to every expedition sent 
out by himself, in 1622, not to improperly 
interfere with the trade or pursuits of the 
natives, never to sell them fire-arms, nor in 
any instance to intermeddle with the woods 
or freeholds of the planters without license 
from the Plymouth Council or crown. He 
also threatened the wrong doers with confis- 



3Iodern Town of York, 41 

cation ; but tliey took little heed of either his 
menace, or commands. 

THE m'iNTIKES ECCLESIASTICAL. 

The following is Judge Say ward's narra- 
tion : "In the time of the civil war in 1641, 
between Charles I. and the British Parlia- 
ment, Oliver Cromwell gained a victory over 
the Scotch troops which had assembled 
under the royal standard, in the north of 
England, and sent them to America. Among 
them were the Donalds or Donnels, the Max- 
wells, the M'lntires,*"'* the Tuckers, &;c., and 

* All the M'lntires descended from one Micuni 
M'Intire, who emigrated from Scotland in Oliver 
Cromwell's time. Those well known in York 
were : Alexander M'Intire, called by the title of 
" Squire," who died some twenty-five years ago; 
Eufus, a member of Congress, and Major William, 
brother to Alexander, a very large and stout man, 
lived in Scotland parish, near the upper bridge. 



4:2 Anciefit City of Gorgeana, 



these came to Gorges's government because 
he was a royaUst, and settled in what is now 
the second parish in York, from which cir- 
cumstance the place was named Scotland. 
Rev. Joseph Moody, son of the Rev. Father 
Moody, was the first minister. His imme- 
diate successor was Rev. Samuel Langton, 
who continued with this society for many 
years afterwards." 

During the government of Gorges, we do 
not find that they ever had a preacher in 

on the old homestead, and has been dead about 
fifteen years. He left two sons, one of whom lives 
in old York, the other in New York city. Jere- 
miah M'Intire was also a prominent man. He 
was at first a Colonel, then General, and finally a 
Major-general of the State militia. He belonged 
to another branch of the family of the above- 
named ; was born in the M'Intire garrison house, 
was married to Elizabeth Lunt, daughter of Sam- 
uel Lunt, Esq., deceased. He bought, lived, and 
died upon the same spot where his sou Jeremiah 
now lives. — iV. G. Marshall 



Modern Town of York. 43 

York. In IGGO, one Burdet, who had been 
expelled from Exeter, in New Hampshh-e, 
for misdemeanors, became a preacher to 
those who chose to hear him ; but he was 
punished for lewdness by the civil authority, 
and soon after ceased to act in the capacity 
of a public teacher. 

CLEKICAL IMBROGLIO ATTEMPT TO KEVO- 

LUTIONIZE THE SHOALS. 

About the year 1642 a personal contro- 
versy arose between two clergymen, which 
caused great popular disturbance. The Rev. 
Mr. Langton, of Dover, New Hampshire, 
delivered a discourse against hirelings, which 
was evidently aimed at Kev. Richard Gibson, 
of Maine, and gave him great umbrage. 
The latter was an Episcopalian, and highly 
esteemed as a Gospel minister, especially 
by the fishermen at the Isles of Shoals, 
among whom he had been for some time 



44 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 



preaching. He retorted upon Langton, and 
likewise accused Massachusetts of usurpa- 
tion in her endeavors to rule over the Isles 
of Shoals. In this state uf irritation, the 
Islanders were provoked to a general revolt 
against the authority of that State, with the 
idea of submission to Gorges's government, 
several of the cluster being his by charter. 
But he was glad, at last, to escape the indig- 
nation of that colony by making a humble 
acknowledgment, and perhaps promising that 
the Islanders should be urged by him to 
return to their allegiance. The controversy 
was completely quieted by his submission. 

Pending this so-called revolt, an attempt 
was made by some of the liberal minded to 
found a government among themselves, as 
then: numbers then amounted to several 
hundreds. " A constitution was drafted and 
made by the principal leaders, then styled 
' knowing ones,' and after being amended, 
revised, rewritten, lengthened, and shortened. 



3Iodern Town of YorJc^ 45 

was submitted to a committee for their exam- 
ination and opinion, before being put to a 
direct vote, and it is astonishing with what 
disfavor it was received ! Some said it was 
too long, others said it was too short ; one 
did n't like it ; another liked the old [r] one 
better ; one attempted to read it upside 
down, and declared he ' never, in all my born 
days, ever saw such a ricketty, crabbed hand 
in all my life ; ' and a loud speaker showed 
his utter contempt for it by * throwing a quid 
of tobacco in the very face and eyes of it I 
In fact, it went back to the makers in such 
a befouled, crumpled, dirty, and soiled con- 
dition, that it was not fit to be seen." 

Although many attempts were afterwards 
made to build up a self-governed confed- 
eracy on this and other bases, they did not 
succeed, and all of them died natural deaths. 



40 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 



WOMEN PROHIBITED PROM LIYI>-G AT THE 
SHOALS. 

A curious memorial presented to the Court 
this year (1642) reflects some light upon the 
ideas and habits of those early times : " The 
humble petition of Richard Cutts and John 
Cutting showeth, that, contrary to an order 
or act of court, which says, 'No icoman shall 
live on the Isles of ShoaW John Reynolds 
has brought his wife thither with an inten- 
tion to live here and abide. He hath also 
brought upon Hog Island a great stock of 
goats and swine, which, by destroying much 
fish, do great damage to your petitioners and 
others; and also spoil the spring of water 
upon that island, rendering it unfit for any 
manner of use ; which afi^ords the only relief 
and supply to all the rest of the islands. 
Your petitioners therefore pray that the act 
of court may be put in execution for the re- 
moval of all women, also the goats and 



Modern Town of YorTc, 47 

swine." In accordance with this request, 
the court ordered Ileynolds to remove his 
goats and swine from Hog Island, within 
twenty days, and also from such other islands 
as are inhabited by fishermen. But as to 
the " removal of his wife," it is " thought fit 
by the court," that " if no further complaint 
come against her, sUe may enjoy the com- 
pany of her husband." The reason for this 
prohibition has been wondered at ; but there 
was one, and it is mentioned in Williamson's 
History of Maine, namely, that " the women 
were owned by the men in as many shares 
as a boat." 



STUMBLING-BLOCKS TO TROGRESS. 

The arbitrary laws made for and held over 
those who attempted anything like progress 
emanated from the jealous mind of Charles 
II. ; for anything done here, right or wrong, 
without first consulting him, through his 



48 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

numerous agents and rulers, was looked 
upon in the light of treason, and not to be 
tolerated, even for a moment, by those who 
held power, or second-hand official authori- 
zation, from the home government. This 
abridgment of freedom resulted as an almost 
effectual stumbling-block to advancement, 
progress, or civilization in an infant colony. 
The crown, through its lord proprietors, kept 
the people in complete submission. 

Those in power rode rough-shod over their 
destinies, and the possession of even their 
very existence. The restoration of the royal 
government in England placed the supreme 
authority in the hands of men far less favor- 
ably disposed towards New England than the 
administration under the protectorate of 
Cromwell. Chaj-les II., dissolute and unprin- 
cipled, disliked extremely the strict religious 
principles of most of the people here. Fur- 
ther, it appeared he even resented, as an 
invasion of his prerogative, the establishment 



Modern Town of YorU, 49 

of a mint in Boston, where were coined 
three-pences, six-pences, and shillings. He 
was jealous of the spirit of liberty prevalent 
among the New Englanders, and wished 
to see them reduced to a complete depend- 
ence on the crown. 

YORK RECORDS. 

The oldest records of York contain little 
other than the assignment and settlement of 
tracts of land to citizens and others wishing 
to become such. We extract a few that 
embrace tlie greatest variety. 

'* 1652. — At a town meeting, ordered, 
that William Hilton have use of ferry*" for 
twenty-one years to carry strangers over for 

* The overland route from the wilds of Maine to 
Massaclmsetts was close to the ocean, the better 
to avoid the Indians, and also to be among the set- 
tlers, fording creeks emptying into it, and directly 
across Stage Neck, where the Marshall House 
stands, thence across this ferry through Kittery. 



60 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

two pence, and for swimming over horses or 
other beasts four pence ; or that one swum 
over by strangers themselves, he or his ser- 
vants being ready to attend ; and one penny 
for every townsman. If time and tides be 
favorable, he is to pass persons over to and 
from Stage Island ; if not, to provide a canoe 
to lye ready on his own side to transport 
people without danger. 

"1701, March 21. — Petitions and offer 
of Capt. John Pickering, to erect a grist-mill, 
to grinde the corne of the town, and put up 
a dam, and take timber from any man's land 
near by. Will do it if the town will give 
him the monopoly of it ; but shall have to 
lay out one hundred and fifty pounds ; for all 
the toll of grinding the town's corn will not 
pay a man wages this seven years. Voted, 
to grant him the permission to build, take 
creek, lumber, stream, trees, &c. The mill 
to be built where Glengom (?) and Gale had 
theirs. 



Modern Tmvn of York, 51 

" 1720, Aug. 81. — Voted at town meet- 
ing, to garrison the house built for the min- 
ister, and occupied by Mr. Samuel Moody, 
at the town's charge ; and that Joseph Say- 
ward * and Benjamin Stone be a committee 
to carry on the garrisoning the above house, 
with square timber, of hemlock, oak, or 
pine, of ten inches width, as soon as possi- 
ble ; fifty-six feet one way, and fifty-two 
the other. And the committee are directed 

* Elder Jonathan Sayward built and owned the 
dwelling-house known as the " Barrcll Mansion," 
which is situated on the hill at the lower end of 
the mill-dam, where formerly Jonathan Sayward 
Barren's grist-mill stood, and the house is still 
occupied by the Barrell heirs. Elder Sayward 
was at one time the most extensive land owner in 
York. During the Revolutionary war he was 
suspected of adherence to tlie king; but it was as- 
certained, on examination, to be otherwise. Jon- 
than S. Barren's fjither was Nathaniel Barrell, an 
Englishman, who sympathized with the cause of 
the king. This Nathaniel married a daughter of 
Elder Sayward. — N. G. Marshall Records. 



52 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



to inform the inhabitants in getting the tim- 
ber, and setting up the same ; and each per- 
son or persons that shall deliver any timber 
suitable for said work shall be allowed nine 
shillings per ton; and laborers to be paid 
according as they are workmen; and the 
work to be finished at or before the tenth of 
September the present year. 

" 1724, March. -— A bounty of four pounds 
was paid for each grown wolf killed. 

*' 1724-5. — Samuel Johnston put by from 
voting. Swine allowed to go at Common. 

"1725, March 8. — Voted, that Sewell 
Banks (Joseph) be requested to sit in the 
fore seat below ; and his wife, as becomes a 
wife, in the woman's fore seat. Voted, that 
the wife of Philip Adams, being somewhat 
thick of hearing, have liberty to move forward 
in the meeting-house. 

" 1727, May 8. — Men appointed to pre- 
vent trespassing on Stage Neck. 

" 1732, June 30. — Common land divided 



Modern Toivn of YorJc. 53 

by vote, how many shares of eight each one 
should have. Elder Joseph Sayward was 
granted land in consideration of his eminent 
usefulness. 

" 1733, Dec. 5. — Voted, to build town- 
house,^'* at an expense of one hundred 
pounds. 

"1733, Dec. 30. — Dimensions of Court 
House : thirty-five feet long, twenty-eight 
feet wide, twenty feet stud, lower story ; 
eight and one half feet upper story, pitch 
roof, both rooms plastered. 

"1737, March 14. — Swine may go at 
liberty if yoked and ringed. 

"1737, March 18. — Voted, to build a 
workhouse for beggars. 

* This, probably, was the old dwelling-house 
which formerly stood on the corner of the road 
opposite the cemetery, near the present Congre- 
gational Church, and for many years occupied by 
one Josephus Howard, as a dwelling, saddlery and 
harness shop. 



54 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

"1747. — Voted, that the school-house 
near the meeting-house be used as a work- 
house. Samuel Sewall, Jr., warder. 

*' 1754. — Bill in regard to private use of 
spirituous liquors, opposed. 

*' 1773. — Voted, to procure an c^er for a 
woman's iUness [?], at the cheapest rate. 

" 1775, April 2. — Voted, to have a night- 
watch, at the mouth of the harbor — two on 
each side, under command of the colonel of 
alarm men (militia). 

*' 1775 — Voted, that the selectmen pur- 
chase corn, and deal it out as they think 
proper. 

*' 1775, July 19. — Daniel Bragdon, David 
Sewall, Edward Emerson, went to Assembly 
at Watertown [Mass. ?]. 

"1776, March 12. — Voted, to sell one 
cannon for militia use. 

"1776, June 5. — Voted, to agree with 
Congress of the decision to declare them- 
selves free and independent colonies. 



3Io(lern Town of York. 55 



''1776, Aug. 5. — Twelve dollars bounty 
offered. [Probably for military recruits.] 

" 1776, Dec. — Bounty increased to four 
pounds ten shillings. Prices paid : for pork, 
threepence a pound; oxen, six shillings a 
yoke ; horses, seven shillings apiece. 

'' 1777, Aug. 18. — Bounty six pounds. 

" 1777, Nov. — Three hundred and sixty- 
eight pounds for ammunition, arms, and men 
raised. 

"1778, May. — Sixty pounds bounty. 

"1780. — John Hancock had sixty-six 
votes for governor. 

t' 1781. — John Hancock had thirty votes. 

" 1781, June. — Daniel Emery appointed 
constable. 

"1782, April. — John Hancock received 
forty-three votes ; whole number cast, fifty- 
one votes." 



66 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 



EARTHQUAKES — COLD WEATHER ~ SNOW- 
STORMS. 

The first day of the month of June, 1G38, 
is memorable on account of tlie first great 
earthquake which occurred after the settle- 
ment of the country. The course was from 
west to east, its duration about four minutes, 
and the earth was unquiet for twenty days.' 
The noise was like that of a multitude of 
carriages driven swiftly over pavements.. 
Many chimneys were thrown down, the 
waters greatly agitated, and the vessels in 
the harbors and at the wharves violently 
shaken. 

In 1727 occurred the second great earth- 
quake that New England experienced. It 
happened in the evening of October 29, at 
about ten o'clock, The atmosphere was 
calm, the sky cloudless, and the moon walk- 
ing in her brightness. The shock extended 
over a tract of some hundred miles in extent. 



Modern Toivn of York, 57 

shaking the buildings, oversetting chimneys, 
and making in some places clefts and fissures 
in the earth. No lives were ascertained to 
have been lost. This event excited serious 
reflection in many a breast, and was followed, 
in some of the towns, by an improvement in 
morals, an increase of piety, and considera- 
ble accessions to the churches. 

The thu'd great earthquake experienced in 
New England occurred a little before day- 
break on the morning of November 18, 1755, 
after a clear and serene night. The shock 
was heavy, and of considerable duration. 
Suddenly arousing the people from the peace- 
ful slumbers of the night, it excited great 
alarm. It threw down the tops of one hun- 
dred chimneys in Boston, and shook the 
country from Virginia to Nova Scotia, an 
extent of a thousand miles. 

Another earthquake happened on the night 
of April 12, 1761, which was succeeded by 
still another the following autumn. The 



68 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

summer of this and that of the following 
year were each of them remarkable for a 
great and distressing drought, which ren- 
dered necessary the importation of large 
quantities of the necessaries of life from 
abroad. 

Other casualties are recorded as occurring 
at the time of the earthquake, or following 
it. There were very severe winters, of long 
duration, and excessively hot summers. 
Some of the snows were so deep that it was 
not unusual for two-story houses to be two- 
thirds buried up, and neighbors to visit each 
other, on snow-shoes, through the chamber 
windows of their houses ; in fact, no other 
communication could be had. This may seem 
to find its parallel in the great freshets in the 
Western States, where families have been 
rescued from a watery grave by being taken 
from the third story of their dwellings on 
board a steamboat coming alongside the 
house ! 



Modern Town of York, 



An unusual occuiTence marked the spring 
of 1658, in a sudden prevalence, when the 
apple and other trees were in full blossom, 
of cold so insupportable, that out of the crew 
of a York fishing vessel, then happening to 
be at sea, one man died of the cold before 
the boat could make the land, another was 
so chilled that he died soon after, and a 
third lost his feet. This was in the latter 
part of May. There have been frequent 
instances of the occurrence of snow on the 
ground and blossoms on the trees, but no 
occasion since of so intense a cold so late in 
the season. 

One of the most destructive frosts recorded 
in the annals of Maine, or even New England, 
occurred in May 17, 1794. The season was 
unusually early, the young apples were 
formed, and the rye headed, when one fatal 
night blasted the hopes of the husbandman, 
and destroyed almost entirely the fruit and 
English gi'ain. A famine seemed inevitable. 



CO Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



but an All-wise Providence averted such a 
calamity, and the next year was one of 
great plenty. 

Cold Tuesday, as January 31, 1815, was 
designated, was remarkable for being intensely 
cold. The year is well remembered as the 
cold season, and is often termed in familiar 
conversation the poverty year. The mean 
'temperature, as observed in many places in 
Maine remote from each other, was forty- 
three degrees. Snow fell in the southern 
part of the State June 9 ; and August was 
t]ie only month of the year exempt from frost. 
Early autumnal frosts almost destroyed the 
crop of Indian corn. Ice formed in wells 
sunk in elevated ground at some distance 
from York river, and was not dissolved till 
the latter part of July. Farmers came to 
the conclusion that it was folly to think of 
raising their bread on the cold hills of 
Maine, and that they must hasten to the 
remote West, where they fondly hoped to 



3Iodern Totvn of York. 61 

find an almost perpetual sunshine and unfail- 
ing plenty. Never was the passion for 
emigration, then familiarly called the " Oliio 
Fever,'' at a greater height. But though the 
unusual aspect of the season deprived many 
towns of a portion of their inhabitants by 
inducing removals, it had a moral influence 
highly salutary in reminding man of his 
dependence on his Creator. 

In February 20, 1717, occurred the great- 
est fall of snow recorded in the annals of 
New England, almost burying under the 
frozen mass the small log and other houses 
of the new plantations. So effectually were 
even the most frequently travelled roads 
blocked up, that the magistrates and minis- 
ters of Boston, who had come out of the town 
on the first day of the storm to attend the 
funeral of the Rev. Mr. Brattle, at Cambridge, 
were unable to return for several days. In 
some portions of the streets of Boston, and 
other large towns, the snow was six feet in 



62 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

depth ; and on the thousand hills of Maine 
and New Hampshire it lay in immense 
bodies. 

In February, 1803, a snow fell in New 
England of great depth and density, a large 
part of it consisting of minute particles, 
resembling hail. Had it fallen in a light, 
fleecy form, as is usual in deep snows, it was 
thought its depth would have exceeded the 
great snow-storm of 1717. 

GARRISON-HOUSES OLD APPLE-TEEE. 

There are but two garrison-houses now 
standing in town : the M'Intire and Junkins. 
They are located just above the third, or 
Swing bridge, on the north-easterly side, and 
near the bank of York river. The M'Intire 
house has been occupied as a dwelling for 
years, and untD. quite recently by Mr. John 
M'Intire, one of the wealthiest men in town. 
It was built by his ancestors, who were early 
settlers (1640-45) in this part of the town, 



Modern Toivn of York, G3 

and, as the name indicates, were emigrants 
from Scotland, as were many of their neigh- 
bors. The Junkins house is much out of 
repair, and fast going to decay. 

These garrison-houses, when built, resem- 
bled in their exterior appearance a modern 
dwelling. They were massive and strong, 
and made of hewn timber dove-tailed and 
dowelled together, with their seams caulked, 
so as to be nearly, if not quite,'^ water-tight. 
Loop-holes for musketry were provided in 
the sides ; and from a loft, over which a good 
floor was laid, there were draws from which 
watch could be kept on an approaching 
enemy. The M'Intire house is in a good 
state of preservation, and if cared for will 
remain, for hundreds of years t*o come, as a 
monument of the past. 

The apple-tree flourishes well, and bears 
bountifully in this town ; so much so, that 
Cider-Hill has long been a name applied to 
a section in the northerly portion of the 



64 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

town. Here is still thriving an apple-tree, 
which is said to have been brought from 
England, in a little tub or box, by one of the 
early settlers, more than two hundred and 
forty years ago. It has borne fruit up to 
the present time. Since the forests have 
disappeared, agriculture has been the lead- 
ing pursuit, and corn, hay, and potatoes 
are the principal crops. 

COUNTY COUETS AND OFFICERS JAIL. 

The Isles of Shoals, and all the territory 
northward of the Piscataqua river belonging 
to Massachusetts, were erected into a county 
by the name of Yorkshire. A county court 
was established, to be holden alternately at 
Kittery and Agamenticus, at appointed times, 
twice a year. In 1654, Abraham Preble*^' 

* Tliis name appears on the York records very 
frequently, in connection with both the convey- 
ancing of real estate and town affairs. His chi- 
rography on these records is beautifully faultless. 



Modern Toivn of York. G5 

was county treasurer for Yorkshire. The 
name of York was probably taken from the 
county and town of that name in England. 
The name of Agamenticus, or Gorgcana, was 
probably dropped, and that of York substi- 
tuted, in order to avoid the city charter and 
Gorges's right. It was the seat of govern- 
ment before Gorges, and the land titles are 
derived through him. This town was tlie 
residence of Edward Johnson, Col. Jeremiah 
Moulton, Hon. David Sewall, and other emi- 
nent men of the present and past genera- 
tions. Probably Gorgcana enjoyed its city 
privileges until it was made a town in 1652. 
The first town commissioners appointed in 
York were Abraham Preble, Edward God- 
frey, Edward Johnson, and Edward Rish- 
worth. Henry Norton was first appointed 
marshal or sheriff of the town. 

In 1653 the jail was built, and a county 
tax was laid to defray the expense of it. An 
addition was made to it some time after, — 



66 Ancient City of Goryeanti. 

no record being in existence to date from, — 
but all of the original gambrel-roofed struc- 
ture stiU remains. 

KEVOLUTION IN MAINE MIKACLES AT THE 

SHOALS. 

The Isles of Shoals, attached partly to 
Maine and partly to New Hampshire, were, 
in 16G0, inhabited by forty families. Being 
places of note and great resort, the General 
Court, in May, 1661, incorporated them into 
a town by the name Appledore, and invested 
it with the powers and privileges of other 
towns. 

Rev. John Brock was a minister among 
these islanders for twelve years, subsequent 
to 1650. He came t;o New England when a 
youth, and graduated at Harvard College in 
1646. A couple of authentic anecdotes will 
show some of his peculiarities. " A fisher- 
man of generous disposition, whose boat had 
been of great use in helping the people from 



Modern Town of York, G7 

other islands to his church, on the Sabbath, 
had the misfortune to lose it in a storm. 
While regretting his loss, the preacher said 
to him: "(7o home contented^ good sir ; I'll 
mention the matter to the Lord; to-morrow 
you may expect to find your boat." Consid- 
ering its particular service to the poor, he 
made it a subject of earnest prayer; and, 
sure enough, the next day it was brought up 
from the bottom of the sea by the flukes of 
an anchor, and restored to its owner ! One 
Arnold's child, six years old, lay extremely 
sick, if not really dead. Mr. Brock, who was 
present, thinking he perceived some possible 
signs of life, arose, and with his usual faith 
and fervor prayed for its restoration, using 
these remarkable words towards the close : 
" Lord, be pleased to give some token ^ 
before we leave prayer, that thou wilt spare 
the child's life. Until it be granted, we cannot 
leave thee.'" Immediately the child sneezed, 
and afterwards recovered. Elder Brock died 



C8 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

at Reading, Massachusetts, in 1688, aged 
sixty- eight years. 

The symptoms of political revolution in 
Maine at this time (1662) appeared every- 
where strong. Although the towns, includ- 
ing Appledore, might send some ten or 
eleven deputies to the General Court, not 
one was returned in the spring of this year. 
*' Liberty of speech and of the press," if they 
had any, was limited by the operation of a 
gag-law. For examples, a fine was imposed 
on Robert Ford, for saying, " John Cotton 
was a liar, and had gone to hell;" and Robert 
Booth was indicted by the grand jury for 
saying of the Bay magistrates, " They are a 
company of hypocritical rogues ; they fear 
neither God nor the king." 

In 1665, at the July term in Wells, the 
Court ordered " any town to take care that 
there be in it a pair of stocks, a cage, and 
couching [ducking] stool, to be erected be- 
tween this and the next court." The last 



Modern Toivn of YorJc, GO 

mentioned was the old instrument for the 
jiimishment of common scolds. This stool 
consisted of a long beam, moving like a well- 
sweep upon a fulcrum, one end of which 
could be extended over a pond and let down 
into it at the will of the operator ; on this a 
seat was fixed, upon which the culprit was 
placed, and then immersed in the water. 

EEPRESENTATIVES SOLDIEKS. 

The following are the names of deputies 
or representatives to the General Court from 
York, with their term of service, while the 
province was under the Colony charter : 
Edward Rish worth, 1653, thirteen years, 
and for Wells one year. Peter Wyer, 1665, 
two years. Samuel Wheelwright, 1677, one 
year, and for Wells and York one year. 

The following are some of the first repre- 
sentatives to the " Great and General Court," 
— probably held at Boston, Massachusetts : 
Lieutenant Abraham Preble, 1699 and 1709; 



70 Ancient City of Gorgcana, 

Samuel Donncll, 1 700 ; James Plaisted, 1701; 
Captain Lewis Bane, 1705 and 1711 ; Lieu- 
tenant Samuel Came, 1816. 

In King Philip's war, in 1675, York, fur- 
nished eighty soldiers. 

CONGEEGATIONAL CHURCH. 

The first Congregational Church of York 
is presumed to have been organized as early 
as 1672, by Rev. Shubael Dummer. From 
fragmentary records it is ascertained that his 
ministry with the people of York began in 
1662. He preached his own ordination ser- 
mon, from the passage, " Return^ Lord, 
and visit this vine.'' * Mr. Dummer was 
born at Newbury, Massachusetts, February 
17, 1736, and graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege, in 1656. He married a Miss Rish- 
worth, daughter of the celebrated Edward 

* As if the Lord had departed, and this text was 
an invitation for his return. — Ud. 



Modern Toivn of York. 71 

Rishworth. His ministry continued till Jan- 
uary 25, 1692, when he was killed at his 
own door, while mounting his horse, to make 
a pastoral visit, by Indians in ambush. He 
was shot through the back, and fell dead 
upon his face. His wife was taken captive 
at the same time, with many other inhabi- 
tants, and the settlement was nearly de- 
stroyed. He lived near the sea-side, on a 
neck of land, near what is called lloaring 
Rock. 

For the six following years the remaining 
settlors had little if any preaching. Mr. 
Dummer's immediate successor was Rev. 
Samuel Moody, the "Father Moody" of 
whom so many eccentricities are related. 
He ^vas born in Newbury, Massachusetts, 
Jan. 4, 1675, and graduated at Harvard 
College in 1697. He came to York, May 
16, 1698, and preached as a candidate till 
his ordination, Dec. 20, 1700. The people 
had not recovered from their losses by the 



72 Ancient City of Govfjeana. 



French and Indians, in 1692, and were so 
poor that Mr. Moody applied to the General 
Court of Massachusetts for aid, " askin<^ 
such allowance as to your wisdom and 
justice shall seem fit." That body allowed 
him £12 sterling (860.) 

Mr. Moody had declined a settlement upon 
a stipulated salary, choosing rather to live 
through faith, dependent upon his Divine 
Master and the voluntary contributions of 
the people. He continued in the ministry 
forty-seven years, and died Xov. 13, 1747, 
aged seventy-two years, much lamented and 
greatly endeared to his charge, and highly 
respected by his country. An ingenious 
epitaph on his grave-stone, near his meetino-- 

o 

house, show^s where he is buried. In 1749 
he was succeeded by Rev. Isaac Lyman, a 
graduate at Yale College, in 1747, who died 
in 1810. 

;Mr. Moody's ministry was marked by the 
perils and agitations incident to wars with 



3Iodern Town of YorJc 73 

the French and Indians, but the church pros- 
pered. He received visits from Whitefield, 
the great revivalist, upon both occasions of 
his coming to America. On his last visit, in 
Oct., 1744, Father Moody welcomed him 
jthus : " Sir, you are first welcome to 
America ; secondly, to New England ; thirdly, 
to all the faithful ministers of New England ; 
fourthly, to all the good people of New 
England ; fifthly, to all the good people of 
York ; and sixthly and lastly, to me, dear 
sir, less than the least of all." His sympa- 
thies were quickly touched by the distress of 
others, and his power to relieve only limited 
by the scantiness of his purse. Mr. Moody's 
influence was such, that, 

" At church, with meek and unaffected grace, 
His looks adorned the venerable place ; 
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, 
And fools who came to scoff remained to pray." 

His character is happily drawn thus : 

" He loved the world that frowned on him ; the tear 
That dropped upon his Bible was sincere ; 



74 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife, 
His only answer was a blameless life." 

His successors were Rev. Isaac Lyman, 
Roswell Messenger, Moses Dow, Eber Car- 
penter, John Haven, John L. Ashby, William 
J. Newman, John Smith, William A. Patten, 
William W. Parker, Rufus M. Sawyer, John 
Parsons. The present pastor is Rev. Benja- 
min W. Pond, who commenced his ministry 
in May, 1870. Who the first deacons were 
is not known. John Harmon is spoken of as 
deacon in 1731, and Joseph Holt in 1739. 
The parsonage was burned in 1742, and the 
records were lost with it, so that only an im- 
perfect account is preserved prior to that year. 

Seventeen years before Mr. Moody's death 
he had the pleasure of seeing another church 
and society formed in the north-west sec- 
tion of York, and of assisting, in 1732, at 
the ordination of his son, the Rev. Joseph 
Moody. This son graduated at the age of 
eighteen, and lived in his native town four- 
teen years, where he held the offices of town 



Modern Town of York, 



clerk, county register of deeds, and a judge 
of the Common Pleas Court, before he was 
ordained. After six years he fell into a 
gloomy state of mind, and died in March, 
1753. His successors were, in 1742, Rev. 
Samuel Chandler, and in 1754, Rev. Samuel 
Langton, who died in 1794. This, the 
second parish in York, was settled in Oliver 
Cromwell's time, by Scotch people, and has 
since been called Scotland. Cromwell, the 
Protector, as he was then called, having 
obtained a victory over a body of Scottish 
royalists, thought transportation to be the 
best disposition he could make of the 
prisoners, and therefore banished them to 
America. Their sympathies being with Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges, who had taken up arms 
in the civil wars on the same side, they set- 
tled upon a section of his patent. 

It may be proper here to speak of the 
parish and its relation to the church. In the 
early settlement of the country, lands were 
granted and laid out in the different towns 



76 Ancient City of Go7*ge-€(na, 

for the support of a minister. Tlrose lands 
M'cre controlled by the town till the incorpo- 
ration of a parish, when they passed under 
the control of a body thus organized, called a 
parish society. The w^aiTant to hold a meet- 
ing for the purpose of organizing was issued 
March 5, 1731, by William Pepperell, jus- 
tice of the peace ; and the parish meeting 
was held March 27, 1731, at which John 
Harmon was moderator, and Jeremiah Moul- 
ton parish clerk. It now assumed the re- 
sponsibility of providing for the minister's 
salary, and the care of the parish property. 
Some of its action in this direction may not 
be uninteresting. 

In 1732, this society voted to purchase a 
slave to be employed for Rev. Samuel Moody, 
and appointed Samuel Came, Esq., Richard 
Millbury, and Joseph Holt, agents, to make 
such purchase. At the same time, it was 
voted to hire a man to live with Mr. Moody 



Modern Toivn of YorTc. 77 

till a slave could be purchased. In 1734, it 
was again voted to hire a man or buy a slave 
for that year, and one hundred and twenty 
pounds ($600), ordered to be raised for that 
purpose. The parish assessors were in- 
structed to buy the slave, and deliver him 
into the hands of Mr. IMoody, to be employed 
in his service during the pleasure of the 
parish. In 1735, the assessor was ordered 
to take care of the negro until the next 
parish meeting. At that meeting, in March, 
1736, he was empowered to dispose of the 
negro to the best advantage, and, as far as 
the records show, this ended the dealings of 
the parish in slaves. 

In 1742, five hundred pounds ($2500) was 
voted to be raised to build a new parsonage, 
on or near the spot where the other one 
stood. The old meeting-house was ordered 
to be taken down, and such materials as were 
suitable, to be used in the construction of the 



78 Ancient City of Gorgeatia. 

new house. The pews were to be appor- 
tioned upon a valuation of five thousand 
pounds (old tenor). The Rev. Samuel 
Moody's funeral expenses, amounting to 
one hundred and five pounds, eighteen shil- 
lings, six pence, were paid also ; with forty 
pounds to Mrs. Moody, to enable her to go 
into mourning ; fifteen pounds to Rev. 
Joseph Moody, the son ; and ten pounds to 
Mrs. Emerson, of Maiden, the daughter of 
Mr. Moody, " in addition to what they have 
been allowed, to put themselves in mourning 
at their discretion." Also the physicians' bills 
of Drs. John Swett, John Whitney, and Dr. 
Sargent, for medicine and attendance during 
the last illness of Mr. Moody, amounting to 
twenty-six pounds, seven shillings, were 
ordered to be paid by the parish. Madam 
Moody, the relict of Rev. Samuel Moody, 
had provision made for her support yearly, 
but, in view of her advanced age, she was 



Modej'ii Totvn of York, 79 

allowed, from 1761 to 1764, five pounds 
additional each year. 

In 1769 "singing was permitted to the 
lower floor, if persons occupying the desig- 
nated pews fit tiiem up at their own ex- 
pense." In regard to licenses : permission 
of the parish committee, with the consent 
of Rev. Mr. Lyman, was given Moses Saf- 
ford, barber, and Eliakim Grover, tailor, to 
erect shops upon parsonage land, for their 
occupations ; they must be of same size, and 
six or eight feet apart. 

During the war the cost of living and 
prices for all commodities were very much 
enhanced, and the currency greatly depre- 
ciated. To meet this change in valuations, 
the parish made grants from year to year 
over and above the minister's stated salary, 
till 1790. A lightning-rod on the church 
was first recommended and ordered to be put 
up in 1792. When or by whom the first bell 
was procui-ed, the records do not mention. 



80 Aticient City of Gorgeana, 

la 1798, after being incorporated, Edward 
Emerson, Col. Esaias Preble, and Daniel 
Sewell were the first trustees of parish fund. 
Edward Emerson, Jr., Judge David Sewell, 
and Samuel Sewell, were chosen trustees of 
fund in 1803, for five years ensuing. The 
parish paid the funeral expenses of Rev. 
Isaac Lyman, in 1810, and set his grave- 
stones. 

The old court-house, built and occupied 
before the recollection of any of the inhab- 
itants then living, had fallen into decay, and 
become unfit for use. In 1811 a new one 
was built, on parish land, to be leased to the 
county during the time it should be used as 
a court-house, after which time the building 
should revert to the parish. 

The use of the jail, built on parish land, 
was granted to the county in 1812, for one 
hundred years, or longer, if needed. In 
1825, the State was leased a lot for the erec- 
tion of a gun-house. 



Modern Town of York, 81 

LORENZO DOW PHYSICIANS. 

An itinerant preacher by this name, cele- 
brated for his eccentricity of manners, and 
who, contrary to the fashion in those days, 
wore a very long and full beard, bearing 
a marked resemblance to the Wandering 
Jew, preached once in the Congregational 
Church, and it was his invariable prac- 
tice, as soon as his sermon was finished, 
to jump out of the " pulpit window," and 
disappear. He did so in this instance. 
His notoriety or popularity always attracted 
large audiences, and his reason for making 
an exit in so summary a manner was to 
escape the importunities and questionings 
of a gaping crowd. He was born in 
Coventry, Conn., October 16, 1777. It is 
said that during the thirty-eight years of his 
ministry he travelled in this and foreign 
countries two hundred thousand miles. He 
commenced preaching when he was nineteen 



82 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

years of age. Before his death, he published 
'a book of his travels and miraculous adven- 
tures ; and since that time, additions have 
been made to it by his widow, Peggy Dow. 
Lorenzo died at Georgetown, D. C, Feb. 2, 
1834, aged fifty-seven. He was no relative 
of Rev. Moses Dow, as many have supposed. 
Next to ministers, physicians occupy a 
large portion of the regard of communities. 
Among those mentioned first in town, were 
Doctors Joseph Swett, Bennett, Job Lyman 
(brother of the preacher), Josiah Oilman,* 
Caleb Eastman, J. S. Putnam, and Baker. 

* Dr. Gilinan died in the year 1830. The name 
in York is now extinct. The writer, when a 
child, knew him well. He married the daughter 
of Rev. Isaac Lyman, who was the immediate 
successor of Rev. Father Moody. liis wife was 
also the sister of Timothy Lyman, Esq., of York, 
and of Theodore Lyman, Esq., who lived in Wal- 
tham, Mass. This Theodore Lyman was father 
of Theodore Lyman, of Boston, who was the 



Modern Totvn of York, 83 



TEMPEKANCE CUSTOMS NOW EXTINCT. 

In early times rum was a common bever- 
age, and was considered a necessary auxiliary 
at all ship-launcliings, in the proportion of 
one barrel for the men, a barrel of wine 
being provided for the ladies. At huskings, 
loggings, raftings, and raisings, its presence 
was thought indispensable. Into even more 
solemn assemblies it was admitted. In a 
bill of expenses incurred at an ordination, is 
a charge for " eight quarts of rum and two 
quarts of brandy for the clergy and council" ; 
and at a funeral was a charge for " five gallons 
of rum, ten pounds of sugar, and half a 
pound of allspice for the mourners " ! This 
is a reminder of the ill-assorted couplet of 
Lord Byron : 

originator of the Industrial School for Girls in 
Massachusetts. Dr. Gilman had two sous : 
Lyman and George. 



84 Ancient City of Gorgeana* 

*• There 's naught so much the spirit cheers, 
As rum and true religion.' ' 

INDIAN RAID AT CAPE NEDDICK. 

In 1676, the Indians assaulted the settle- 
ment of Cape Neddock, where they killed 
and carried away all the inhabitants, amount- 
ing to about forty persons, and unusual cru- 
elties were practised upon the people. 

MAINE SOLD TO MASSACHUSETTS. 

King Charles II., in 1676, confirmed tne 
right of the heirs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
" both as to soil and government," and they 
relinquished to Massachusetts all those rights 
and titles to the Pro'\-ince of Maine, for one 
thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. 
This ofiended the king, who claimed the first 
right to purchase ; but Massachusetts refused 
to comply with their wishes, and assumed 
complete jurisdiction over it. A court was 



Modern Totvn of York, 85 

established, the first one held under Massa- 
chusetts, March 17, 1680, at York, and 
Thomas Danforth appointed president. At 
the commencement of the session of 1683, 
Rev. Shubael Dummer preached the election 
sermon, as it was called. 

YORK VETERANS. 

Benjamin Simpson, of this town, assisted 
in the destruction of the tea in Boston har- 
bor, December, 1773. He was then an 
apprentice to a bricklayer, and nineteen 
years of age. He was also a soldier in the 
Bevolutionary war. York, according to Wil- 
liamson's History, and other authorities, had 
the honor of putting the first soldiers into 
the field from Maine. In the Provincial 
Congress, in session 1774-5, Daniel Bragdon 
was chosen delegate from York. The select- 
men, at the commencement of the war, were 
Dr. John Swett, Edmund Grow, Joseph 
Grant, Samuel Harris, and Jeremiah Weare. 



8(j A^icient City of Gorgeana. 

CRIMI>rAL COURT DEVIL's IXVENTIOX. 

At a court held in York, July, 1679, the 
following criminal case was tried : James 
Adams, of York, became affronted with one 
of his neighbors, Henry Simpson, and deter- 
mined to avenge himself upon two of Simp- 
son's children, whose ages were six and nine 
years. His contrivance and crime were as 
satanical as they were deliberate. In a soli- 
tary place, four or five miles from the dwell- 
ing-houses of the inhabitants, he built of logs 
beside a ledge of perpendicular rocks a pen 
or pound, several feet in height, with walls 
inclined inward from bottom to top. After 
he had built this, he decoyed the children 
into the woods under a pretence of searching 
for birds' nests, and caused them to enter 
wdthin the pound, where he left them con- 
fined, to perish of famine. The place has 
since been called the Devil's Invention. 
The children were soon missed, and the 



Modern Town of York. 87 

alarmed inhabitants searched for them more 
than forty-eight hours. The boys, when 
aware of their wretched situation, made 
various attempts to get out, and at length, by 
digging away with their hands the surface 
of the earth underneath one of the bottom 
logs, effected their escape. They wandered 
in the woods three days, being at last 
attracted to the sea-shore by the noise of the 
surf, where they were found. The depraved 
criminal was condemned to have thirty 
stripes well laid on ; to pay the father of the 
children five pounds, the treasurer ten 
pounds, besides fees and charges of the 
prison, and remain a close prisoner during 
the court's pleasure, or till further order. 
The same month he recognized before two 
of the Associates, " conditioned to send him, 
Avithin twenty-one days, out of the juris- 
diction." 



88 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

SAINT ASPINQUID. 

This is the name of the saint or hero thus 
held in profound veneration by the aboriginal 
inhabitants throughout Maine, who are 
known to have been Indians, both in a reli- 
gious and warlike distinction. His sanctity 
was well established among them ; yet who 
he was, or why he deserved these honors, is 
a profound mystery. Some deny that he 
ever existed, and reduce his effigy to a mere 
symbol of victory or conquest ; but even of 
what that is, the answer itself would become 
a doubtful solution of doubtful doubts ! 
Indian tradition, transmitted from age to age, 
and from tribe to tribe, informs us this 
patron saint of theirs lived and died on 
Mount Agamenticus, in 1682, and that his 
funeral was celebrated by the Indians with a 
sacrifice of six thousand five hundred and 
eleven wild animals. 



Modern Town of Yorlc. 89 

WITCHES AND WITCHCEAFT. 

We have no record of a conviction for 
w^itchcraft in this town, although in a few 
instances slight symptoms of the infection of 
that age that afflicted Salem, Massachusetts, 
were manifested, but oozed out into religious 
creeds and schisms. A colony ordinance was 
passed against witchcraft in 1646, but old 
women, who were the principal victims, did 
not appear to heed it. Wizards were in a 
small minority. Only one case is recorded 
in Maine : that of George Burroughs, who 
preached in Falmouth, now Portland, be- 
tween 1685 and 1690, and sometimes at 
Wells and other places. Very little is known 
of him ; but he was born somewhere in 
Essex County, Mass. What his education 
was, or where he acquired it, is not now 
known. Governor Hutchinson's account of 
him is, " that he was sometimes a preacher 
in Wells ; " and, according to other authori- 



90 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

ties, perhaps there is no doubt of it. The 
cellar of his house was seen after the year 
1770, south of Rev. Dr. Dean's church. 

When Falmouth was attacked and sacked 
by the Indians, in 1690, Burroughs made his 
escape and fled to Danvers, where he resided 
in 1692. He was a man of bad character, 
and of a cruel disposition. In the year last 
mentioned, he was indicted for witchcraft, 
and tried at Salem, before Judges Sewall and 
Hawthorne. A synopsis of the indictment, 
against him for which he sufl'ered the penalty 
of his life is as follows : On the 9th day of 
May, in the fourth year of the reign of Wil- 
liam and Mary, he practised certain detest- 
able arts, called witchcrafts and sorceries, 
upon Mary Walkot, of Salem, Mass., 
whereby she was afflicted, pinched, tortured, 
and tormented, and became consumed, pined, 
and wasted, against the statutes and peace 
of the sovereign lord and lady the King and 
Queen of England, Ireland, and Scotland. 



Modern Town of Yorlc. 91 

On the trial, two witnesses testified thus : 
" Wishing Burroughs's presence in Dover, 
N. H. [to preach, probably], we called at his 
home, and found him engaged in building a 
Virginia fence of huge logs, which he han- 
dled to our astonishment. He wished to 
complete a certain amount that day, and 
requested us to wait for him to do it, and 
then he would go off witli us ; and this exhi- 
bition of his strength confirmed it in our 
minds that he was heiuitched ! After Bur- 
roughs had finished his work we went into 
the house, and Burroughs took down from 
over the chimney-piece a queen's arm [an 
old-fashioned flint-lock musket, about seven 
feet long, weighing over sixteen pounds], 
put his finger into the muzzle, and held it out 
straight ; and, though he said an Indian 
did the same, none of us could recollect an 
Indian was present, and we supposed the 
being must have been the black man or the 



92 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

devil, who they swore they had no doubt 
looks like the devil. 

*' He was placed on a horse, with a man 
on horseback each side of him. The three, 
•both men and horses, on starting, seemed to 
leave terra finna^ and mount and 'go through 
the air with the greatest of case,' amid a ter- 
rific tempest of rain and wind, accompanied 
by lightning and thunder, and did not touch 
the earth again until the neighborhood of 
Cocheco river, near Dover, N. H., was 
reached." 

He was also charged with carrying a bar- 
rel of cider from a canoe to the shore, raising 
it with his hands to a level with his face, 
and drinking out of the bung-hole ; and with 
cruelty to his wives. 

Samuel Webber affirmed, " that about 
seven or eight years before that time, he 
lived at Casco Bay. George Burroughs was 
then minister there, and having heard much 
of his great strength and remarkable feats, 



3Iodern Toivn of Yorlc. 93 

and the said Burroughs came to his house 
and told me he had just put his fingers into 
a barrel filled with molasses, and lifted it up, 
and carried it round him, and set it down 
again." 

Susannah Sheldon testified that " Bur- 
roughs took me up on a high mountain and 
showed me all the kingdoms of the earth, 
and offered to give them to me if I would 
write in his book, and said he would throw 
me down and break my neck if I would not ; 
and told me he kept the devil as a servant 
in his service." 

Three other bills were found against him 
by the grand jury, one of which was for 
practising upon one Ann Putnam, who testi- 
fied as follows : 

" On the 8th of May, 1692, I saw the 
apparition of Burroughs, who had grievously 
tortured me, and had urged me to write in 
his book, which I refused. Then he told me 
(hat his two wives would presently appear 



04 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

to mc, and tell me a great many lies, but I 
must not believe them. Then immediately 
appeared to me the forms of two women in 
winding-sheets, and napkins about their 
heads, at which I was greatly affrighted. 
They turned their faces towards Burroughs, 
and looked very red and angry, and told him 
that he had been very cruel to them, and that 
their blood cried for vengeance against him ; 
and also told him that they should be clothed 
with white robes in heaven, when he should 
be cast down into hell, and he immediately 
vanished away. As soon as he was gone 
the two women turned their faces towards 
me and looked as pale as a white wall, and 
said they were Burroughs's first wives, and 
that he had murdered them. And one told 
me she was his first wife, and he stabbed her 
under the left breast, and put a piece of seal- 
ing-wax in the wound, and she pulled aside 
her winding-sheet and showed me the place ; 
and also said she was in the house where 



Modern Towfi of York, 95 

Mr. Paris '*' then lived when it was done, 
rhe other woman told me that Burroughs 
md a wife he had now, killed her in the ves- 
sel as she was coming to see her friends from 
the eastward, because they would have one 
another ; and they both charged me to tell 
these things to the magistrates, before Bur- 
roughs' s face, and if he did not own them, 
they did not know but that they should 
appear. This morning Mrs. Lawson and her 
daughter told me that Burroughs murdered 
them ; and about the same time another 
woman appeared to me in a winding-sheet, 
and told me she was Goodman Fuller's first 
wife, and that Burroughs killed her because 
there was a difference between her husband 
and him. Also on the 9th of May, during 
the time of his examination, he did most 
grievously torment Mary Walkot, Mercy 

* This was Rev. Mr. Paris, of Danvers, Mass., 
who first set on foot the matter of prosecuting for 
witchcraft. 



96 Anciejit City of Goi'geana, 

Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Abigail 
Williams, by choking, pricking, and punch- 
ing them." 

There was some other evidence to cor- 
roborate this. Burroughs was found guilty 
on all the indictments, and was executed in 
Salem, Mass. 

This extraordinary delusion was not con- 
fined to the old Colony of Massachusetts 
at that time, but was felt in Europe. In 
both countries many innocent people suf- 
fered an ignominious death, and there can 
be no doubt but that the people who 
appeared to be tortured were possessed by 
evil spirits of some kind or other ; nor have 
we any reason to question that there was 
some extraordinary cause, from the state 
of the atmosphere or something else, which 
operated on the imagination and nerves of the 
judges, and on the people at large, depri\'ing 
them in a great measure of their rational 
faculties. 



Modern Toivn of Yorlc. 97 

If Burroughs had remained at his home in 
Maine, he might have fallen a victim to the 
savag€S ; but it is thought he never would 
have been executed for witchcraft, and the 
reason assigned at the time was : " Because 
there never was a prosecution for that crime 
eastward of the Piscataqua river." 

DEED OF YOKK. 

In 1684, Thomas Danforth, in behalf of 
the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, 
deeded to Major John Davis, Edward Rish- 
worth, Captain Job Alcock, and Lieut. Abra- 
ham Preble, trustees in behalf of the town, 
all land in town granted to it by Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges, thus giving the town the 
right to dispose of the commons or ungranted 
lands in the manner it saw fit. The consid- 
eration was, that each family was to pay two 
or three shillings annually to Massachusetts. 



98 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

CHARTER OF MAINE. 

The celebrated charter of "William and 
Mary, dated Oct. 7, 1691, was brought from 
England by Sir William Phips, the first 
royal governor, and went into operation May 
14, 1692. It embraced the whole of the ter- 
ritory of the State of Maine, in two great 
divisions : one, extending from the Piscataqua 
to the Kennebec rivers, was called the Prov- 
ince of Maine ; the other, including all 
between the Kennebec and St. Croix rivers, 
was usually denominated Sagadahock. York 
was in the first division. This charter also 
included the five northerly Isles of Shoals, as 
embraced in Gorges' s charter, viz. : Apple- 
dore or Hog, Cedar, Duck, Haley's or 
Smutty-Xose, and Malaga Islands. 

LEGISLATURE OF MAINE. 

The legislative power was vested in two 
distinct branches, each having a negative 



Mode7*n Town of YorJc. 99 

upon the other. The upper house was called 
the Council or Board of Assistants, consist- 
ing of twenty-eight members ; the other was 
the House of Representatives. 

The councillors from York, were Job 
Alcot or Alcock, and Samuel Donnell, both 
of whom were afterwards justices of the Su- 
perior or Common Pleas Court. Mr. Alcot 
was one of the most ancient, substantial, and 
wealthy inhabitants of the town, and had 
been commander of the militia company 
twenty years before ; but being somewhat 
advanced in years, he was never rechosen 
to the council. Mr. Donnell was elected 
the next year, and once subsequently. He 
also represented the town two years in the 
House. In 1692; Jeremiah Moulton and 
M. Turfrey were the members returned from 
York. In 1694, William Screven, and from 
York and Wells united, Ezekiel Rogers, Jr. 
In 1698, Abraham Preble, from York. 



100 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



YORK ASSAILED. 

Early in the morning of February 5, 1692, 
at a signal of a gun fired, the town was 
furiously assaulted at different places by a 
body of two or three hundred Indians, led 
on and emboldened by several Canadian 
Frenchmen, all of them having taken up 
their march on snow-shoes. The surprise 
of the town was altogether unexpected and 
amazing, and consequently the more fatal. 
A scene of horrid carnage ensued, and in one 
half hour more than one hundred and sixty 
of the inhabitants were expiring victims or 
trembling suppliants at the feet of their 
enraged enemies. The rest took refuge in 
garrisoned fortifications. About half of the 
inhabitants, it has been supposed, were slain 
or carried away captive.^* 

* This account is abridged from Williamson's 
History of Maine, but occurred, according to Sul- 
livan, in his History of Maine, in " January, 1692, 



Modern Town of York. 101 

The massacre in York and the burning of 
the town were the more deeply and ex- 
tensively lamented, because of the antiquity 
and preeminence of the place, and especially 
of the excellent character of the people. 
Several of the captives taken at York were 
afterwards recovered, in the course of the 
spring, by a vessel sent for the purpose, to 
Sagadahock. 

These calamities were so desolating and 
discouraging, that those remaining had 
thoughts of abandoning the place altogether ; 
but a few remained, though suffering under 
severe privations from the destruction of 
almost everything that could give them 
shelter or sustenance. 

There were four houses which had been 
garrisoned, and held out for some time. To 
the missionaries, probably French, belongs 
the responsibility of awakening the ani- 

and the town was entirely destroyed, fifty killed, 
and one hundred carried into captivity." 



102 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 



mosity of the Indians, by telling them the 
English had invaded their rights in occupy- 
ing their lands, and in establishing new set- 
tlements, mills, and especially forts. What 
at the same time helped to fan and feed the 
fire, was a rumor that there were apprehen- 
sions of a war between England and France. 
In 1700, an alarm was circulated that this 
and the adjoining towns were to be visited 
by neighboring hostile Indians, and prepara- 
tions for defence were speedily made. Town 
watches were also required, by statute, to be 
kept, from nine o'clock in the evening till 
morning. The citizens being once disturbed 
by this panic, nothing could fully allay their 
fears. They thought, though without cause, 
that the frontiers were actually infested by 
these hostile barbarians. Thirty soldiers 
were posted at York, fifteen at Kittery, 
fifteen at Wells, and the Legislature allowed j 
to twelve or thirteen men in the county of 
York one hundred and thirty-seven pounds 



Modern Toivn of Yoric, 103 

('*^685) for their indefatigable services during 
the late alarm. 

The York massacre was memorialized in 
the following lines : 

"They marched for two and twenty dales, 
All through the deepest snow ; 
And on a dreadful winter morn 
They struck the cruel blow. 

Hundreds were murthered in their beddes, 

Without shame or remorse ; 
And soon the floors and roads were strewed 

With many a bleeding corse. 

The village soon began to blaze, 

To heighten misery's woe ; 
But 0, I scarce can bear to tell 

Tlie issue of that blow! 

They threw the infants on the fire ; 

The men they did not spare ; 
But killed all which they could find, 

Though aged, or though fair." 



104 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

No disturbance took place for some years, 
but in 1 703 a party led on by one Sampson, 
an overgrown savage, slew the family of 
Arthur Bragdon, consisting of his wife and 
five children, and carried Mrs. Hannah Par- 
sons, a widow woman, and her young daugh- 
ter, into captivity. This daughter is sup- 
posed to be the girl whom the savages, on 
their march, in 1706, being short of provis- 
ions, and unsuccessful in hunting, prepared 
" a fire to roast, when a dog, falling in their 
M-ay, supplied the child's place." After- 
wards another party made their appearance 
in town, and slew Matthew Austin, near the 
garrison at Cape Neddick, and not being 
able to do any more mischief, visited Ber- 
wick, and, after torturing, burned Joseph 
Ring at the stake. 

Four men riding in company with a Mrs. 
Littlefield, on the road between York and 
Wells, were waylaid, August 10, 1703, and 
all slain except one, who hardly escaped the 



Modern Totvn of Yor7c, 105 

fate of the others. Mrs. Littlefield had money 
to the amount of two hundred dollars about 
her person, of which she was plundered by 
the same bloody hands. 

October 15, 1705, a party of eighteen 
Indians rushed from the woods and seized 
four children of Mr. Stover, near the same 
garrison. One, being too young to travel, 
they instantly killed, and shortly afterwards 
tortured another to death, out of retaliatory 
revenge, according to savage usage, because 
one of their assailants was shot on his re- 
treat. Other cruelties were practised, such 
as biting off the children's fingers, and to 
prevent their bleeding searing them with 
red-hot tobacco-pipes. 

Early in the spring of 1710, they killed 
Benjamin Preble, of York. 

The year 1712 was very calamitous all 
over the State, about twenty-six being 
killed, wounded, and taken captive in York, 
Kittery, and Wells. The enemy first ap- 



106 



Aticieiit City of Gorgeana. 



peared at York, and in April or May shot 
Samuel Webber, near Cape Neddick. Every 
motion and movement of the inhabitants 
seemed to be under the inspection of these 
lurking malignant foes. A negro was taken 
captive, but he soon escaped, probably by 
the Indians' consent, for they had a mortal 
aversion to negroes. 

The government offered bounties for every 
Indian scalp ; a regular soldier was paid ten 
pounds; a volunteer, without pay, twenty 
pounds, and without being furnished with 
rations or supplies, fifty pounds. For every | 
Indian scalped, killed, or taken, it is said to 
have cost the Province over one thousand 
pounds. 

There was not much injury done during 
the three years' war. The sea defended it 
on one side, Kittery on another. Wells on 
the third, and Berwick by that time had 
become a considerable plantation, with sev- 
eral forts and fortified houses, extending 



Modern Toivn of Yor7c» 107 

itself above York towards the wilderness. 
But a house stood where the parsonage house 
has since stood, which had a picketed fort and 
bastions round it, in the year 1750, and the 
people used to attend public worship with 
fire-arms in their hands as late as the year 
174G. But a war lasting three years is as 
much as an Indian can bear, even if success 
attends it. Unsuccessful as they were, their 
spirit drooped, and they made overtures of 
peace to the whites. 

The government sent Mr. Lewis Bane, of 
York, to Sagadahock, with authority to make 
arrangements for negotiating a treaty. 

PROSCRIPTION OF NEGROES, SLAVES, AND 
INDIANS. 

The want of efficient civil authority within 
the territory naturally enticed and introduced 
from other States scallawags, vagabonds, 
lewd and disorderly persons, and fugitives 
from justice. 



108 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

Colored people increasing in numbers all 
over the State, in York they had become 
exceedingly obnoxious and despicable. A 
duty of four pounds ($20), therefore, was 
exacted and required to be paid for every 
negro imported ; and so depraved, ignorant, 
and shiftless were the slaves, that not one 
of them, even in this age of freedom and 
equality, might be manumitted, unless secu- 
rity was first given for his maintenance. All 
negroes and mulattoes were expressly ex- 
cluded from watches and military duty, as 
well in war as in peace ; and whoever pre- 
sumed to join one of them in marriage with 
a white person incurred a heavy penalty. 
Equally great was the general antipathy 
against Indians. They were cruel, degraded 
heathens, ignorant, lazy, lousy, and revenge- 
ful ; the authors of accumulated evils to all 
places cursed with their presence. By law, 
it was strictly forbidden to bring into the 
Province any of these races, either as slaves 



Modern Town of York* 109 



or servants. Yet the town was completely 
overrun with them. 

For security, parties of men constantly 
scoured the woods in quest of the enemy, but 
with no great success. In common with the 
rest of New England, the settlements in 
Maine were filled with alarm ; even business 
was at a stand ; the people, deserting their 
own habitations, collected themselves to- 
gether in the larger houses, which they forti- 
fied as well as they could. They scarcely 
dared go into the fields, nor ever stepped out 
of doors but at the peril of life. 

The French, by bidding a price for every 
scalp, continually excited the savage to the 
work of blood and ruin. They taught him 
to regard them as the only genuine friends 
of Christianity ; the English as heretics, and 
trespassers on their soil, whom to kill was 
not only lawfid, but meritorious. A curious 
specimen of the kind of Christianity they 
imparted to the Indians, and the fruits it 



110 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

yielded, is exemplified in the following inci- 
dent. " The noted Thevouet, or Kevouet, 
an Indian Sachem, died at Montreal. The 
French gave him burial in a pompous man- 
ner ; the Catholic priest who attended him 
at his death having declared that he died a 
true Christian ; ' For,' said he, * while I 
explained to him the passion of our Saviour, 
whom the Jews *^ crucified, he cried out : 0, 
liad I been therc^ I would have avenged his 
deaths and brougJit away their scalps ! ' " 

The inordinate thirst of Indians for ardent 
spirits has been attributed " to their per- 
petual traverse of the woods, and their con- 
stant use of fresh water f and unsalted meat. 

* This is an error, but lias been handed down 
to us for ages, and incorporated into our education 
as such, ever since the event occurred. Crucifix- 
ion was practised by the Romans, and not by the 
Jews, as a mode of punishment. 

t This item is copied from Williamson's History 
of Maine. If it be true, the " foes of temperancft 



Modern Totvn of York,, 111 

They will drink strong liquor unmixed, until 
they can swallow no more. They are then 
to a frightful degree violent and destructive. 
Their firearms and knives must then be 
taken from them to prevent murder." 

THE MILITIA OF MAINE. 

In 1693 a statute was passed to revise and 
regulate the militia of Maine, which directed 
all the male inhabitants between the ages 
of sixteen and sixty years, except those 
exempted, to be enrolled and to do military 
duty four days in a year ; and to be well 
armed and equipped with a firelock and its 
appendages, furnished at their own expense. 
The exempts were many, extending not only 
to all members of the Legislature, clergymen, 
deacons, and all judicial and executive offi- 
cers, but to masters of arts, herdsmen, and 

and its friends ahke " have recommended a wrong 
Bubstitute, unless this beverage acts by contraiies ! 



112 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



sea-captains. These musters were to take 
place triennially. 

In the recollection of the writer, during the 
years 1829-33 a "Muster" for inspection 
and review of the district took place in his 
native town and lasted one day, in each year, 
and for confusion, revelry, and tumult, it 
compared favorably with the accounts for- 
merly published of fairs once held in Donny- 
brook in Ireland, or the din and clangor of 
half a dozen Fourth of July celebrations 
combined in one. An Old York Muster, as 
it was then termed, in times past, will never 
be forgotten by a beholder, much less by a 
participant. 

The military display on that occasion was 
of itself a curious spectable ; — fantastic com- 
panies, in rag-tag-and-bob-tail uniforms {!), 
— no two alike, — with arquebuses, blun- 
derbusses, firelocks, guns, muskets, and 
queen's-arms of every conceivable shape and 
form, except the right one ; and not one in a 



Moderni Toivn of York, 113 

hundred would be of the least practical use, 
except as bludgeons or shillalaj^s in a single- 
combat or hand-to-hand fight. Bands with 
untuned and untunable instruments (of tor- 
ture, not music), emitted most diabolical 
sounds, reminding you of the unearthly cha- 
otic jargon of the condemned, emanating 
from the bottomless abyss — unless you were 
an Universalist ! 

Leaving out debauches, gaming, riots, 
tumults, and the like, there were exhibitions 
of buffoonery, wax-work, Jim Crow dancing, 
destroying each other's booth, tent, or stock 
in trade (no police or keepers of the peace 
in vogue at that time), the sale of confec- 
tionery and molasses gingerbread, — which 
cheapens as the day wanes, for the reason 
that dealers in these commodities had rather 
sacrifice their M'ares, and depart empty- 
handed than otherwise. A not uncommon 
scene, toward night, would be beaux and 
belles, with soiled vesture, and a weary gait, 



114 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

suflfcring the fatigues from a full season of 
enjoyment, departing for their homes, laden 
with the spoils only vouchsafed them once a 
year, viz. : a dozen or two sheets of molasses 
gingerbread tied up in a red silk bandanna 
handkerchief. 

Among the numerous divertisements of the 
day we may make mention of a sham fight, 
then thought to be a necessary adjunct to 
the completion of a full performance on a 
training day. The battle was only to be 
feigned, yet preparations were made by the 
ambulance corps to take care of the killed 
and wounded. It was necessary in the first 
place to select a number of men to play the 
parts of dying and dead ; and, to prevent 
mistakes and confusion, each one was fur- 
nished with a ticket setting forth the nature 
and severity of his injuries. The two lines 
then approached each other, the mimic com- 
bat began, and soon the ground was thickly 
covered with the victims of war's fell rage. 



Modern Town of York, 115 

The ambulance men advanced, and began to 
pick up the sufferers. The wounds of each 
one, as indicated by the ticket attached to 
the body, were carefully examined, and the 
proper remedies were promptly administered. 
One soldier, however, received instructions 
which justified him, as he thought, in giving 
up the ghost. Those who were taking care 
of the wounded were surprised at finding 
that he gave no sign of life, and immediately 
called an officer for consultation. The" officer 
asked the man what ailed him, but received 
no reply. A physician was then called, 
under whose direction water was thrown in 
the wounded man's face, but without the 
desired result. Finally, the signal for the 
close of the exercises sounded, whereupon 
the dead man jumped up as well as ever. 
In reply to the questions which were put to 
him, he said that he had done nothing but 
what it seemed to him the severity of his 
wounds required him to do. 



IIG Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

But such exhibitions and displays are not 
now seen or heard of, and scarcely are they 
remembered except by a few of the present 
inhabitants of the town. 

In 1843 the State militia was abolished. 

EARLY SCHOOLS. 

The first recorded action taken in regard 
to schools was in 1761, when Nathaniel 
Freeman was employed by the selectmen for 
eight pounds per year, with three pence per 
week for teaching reading, and four pence 
per week for writing and ciphering. His 
year began May 5. The next year (1762) 
he was engaged for ten pounds, with the 
same price for other branches as he had the 
previous year. 

In the year 1709-10, the selectmen were 
instructed by vote of the town to hire a 
schoolmaster for seven years, to teach all in 
the town to read, write, and cipher. The 



3Io(lern Town of York. 117 

next year (1711) Nathaniel Freeman was 
engaged for the term of seven years. He 
was to teach from eight o'clock to twelve 
in the forenoon, and from one o'clock to five 
in the afternoon, for thirty pounds per year, 
paid quarterly ; one-third in provisions, and 
the balance in money of New England. In 
addition, the town was to build him a house 
twenty-two by eighteen feet, with a Irick 
chimney ! The school was to be free to all 
from five years old and upwards. 

In 1717 a vote was passed for the employ- 
ment of a grand schoolmaster for one year, 
to instruct the children in the learned things, 
who was to be paid and maintained at the 
expense of the town. Kindred action was 
taken from time to time, showing the inhab- 
itants were not indifferent to the benefits of 
an education. At the present time the num- 
ber of school districts in York is fifteen. 



118 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

BOON ISLAND SIIIPWRECK. 

This is an island or lodge of rocks about 
seven miles distant south-east from Cape 
Neddick, which is the nearest land, and is 
one-fourth of a mile in length. About one 
league distant, cast from it, is Boon Island 
ledge, which is very dangerous. This island, 
on which is the light-house, is so low and 
small that often in gales and storms the 
waters drive the residents from their dwell- 
ing to the second story of the light-house. 
On December 11, 1710, the Nottingham 
Galley, a vessel of one hundi-ed and twenty 
tons burden, with ten guns and fourteen 
men, under John Dean, master, bound to 
Boston from London, was driven by a tre- 
mendous gale, accompanied with hail, rain, 
and snow, upon Boon Island. It was in 
total darkness when their sufferings com- 
menced there, they being cold, fatigued, 
hungry, and wet, without food, light, or 



Modern Town of YorTc, 119 

shelter. In so dreadful a night some of 
them very soon died. The next day, they 
endeavored, but ineffectually, to make some 
signal to be noticed from the nearest shore ; 
and after a few days spent here, two of them 
attempted to get to York on a raft, but they 
were drowned. The only food these forlorn 
sufferers could obtain were shreds of raw 
hide and a few muscles and rockweed. In a 
few days they prayed to Heaven for succor 
and relief, and treated each other with kind- 
ness and condolence. But, through extreme 
famine and distress, they bethought them- 
selves of the duty of preserving their lives, if 
possible, by eating some of the flesh of one 
of their comrades who had perished from 
starvation, and whose body lay lifeless before 
them. At first they deliberated and sighed, 
but at last chose this as a less evil than 
death ; yet having no fire, their only alterna- 
tive was to swallow it, loathsome as it was, 
raw. Their dispositions immediately seemed 



120 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

to undergo a total change ; quarrels and pro- 
fanity ensued ; they condemned themselves 
together of their Maker, and prayed to him 
no more. In this unhappy plight were these 
wretched objects of despair, when they were 
discovered and taken off, January 3, 1811, 
after twenty-three days' sojourn, emaciated 
to mere skeletons, and unable to walk. 

Upon this island is a dwelling-house and 
a light-house. The latter was built of stone, 
by the United States government, in 1811, 
and cost two thousand five hundred and 
ninety dollars, and the next year the island 
was ceded to the government. The pay of 
the keeper, previous to 1832, was four hun- 
dred and fifty dollars per annum. He has a 
fine opportunity to obtain abundance of sea- 
fowl, which furnishes him with food and 
feathers. 

It has at present three keepers : the salary 
of the first is six hundred dollars a year ; the 
assistants, three hundred dollars each. 



Mode?*n Town of Y'orlc 121 

EXPENSE OF AN OKDINATION. 

We copy the following list of supplies fur- 
nished at an ordination in I7o0, in order to 
compare them with prices of the same com- 
modities at the present day : 

1 barrel flour, 

3 bushels apples, 

2 barrels cider, 
2 gallons brandy, 
1 bottle vinegar, 

54^ lbs. pork. Id. lb. 1 11 

8 fowls, 6 candles, 

1 ounce nutmegs, 
29 pounds sugar, 

1 teapot, 1 pound tea, 2 

4 gallons rum, 

2 bushels cranberries, 2 

1 pound ginger, 
4 ounces pepper, 

2 cheeses, Qd. per lb.* 
6 gallons molasses, 2s. Sd. gallon. 



£14 


7s. 


6d. 


871.87 


2 


8 





12.00 


9 








45.00 


5 








25.00 





5 





1.25 


. 1 


11 


H 


7.94 


1 


17 





9.25 





1 





.25 


8 


14 





43.50 


a, 2 








10.00 


5 


4 





2G.00 


^s,2 








10.00 





2 





.50 








6 


.12^ 



122 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

sewall's bridge. 

The first action ever taken in relation to 
this bridge was at a parish meeting, holden 
Jan. 20, 1742, where it was "Voted, that 
this parish is willing there should be a bridge 
built across York river, at or near where 
Capt. Samuel Sewall keeps a ferry, and that 
a Committee be chosen to take subscriptions 
for the building the same, and the said 
committee are directed to prepare materials 
for to build said bridge as soon as may be." 
" Capt. Nathaniel -Donnell, Samuel Sewall, 
Joseph Holt, Samuel Bragdon, Jr., Samuel 
Milberry, and Thomas Donnell, were voted 
the committee to take subscriptions and pre- 
pare materials," etc. They were a long 
time in obtaining subscriptions, but suc- 
ceeded, and the bridge was built, in the inter- 
est of the old Parish, as many of the wor- 
shippers lived on the south side of the river, 
were desirous to have part of the tax raised 
for preaching expended in that locality, 



Modern Totvn of York. 123 

because of the trouble of ferrying to the 
other side. Capt. Sewall, Mr. Holt, and 
Samuel Bragdon, tliree of the committee, 
lived on this side of the river, and were very 
prominent men. Thomas DonneM, of this 
committee, lived in a house near the spot 
where George A. Marshall's store now is. 

This was the first pier bridge said to have 
been built on this continent, certainly in the 
United States, and owes its construction to 
Major Samuel Sewall, a great architect in his 
day. At the present day each pile is driven 
singly. The method employed in construct- 
ing this bridge would now be considered 
behind the age, and was as follows : The 
piles or posts were of different length ; the 
length being determined by probing the 
bottom of the river or mud with a pointed 
iron affixed to a long pole, and having ascer- 
tained the various depths of the mud in a 
section, a whole section, containing five piles 
or posts (Williamson says four), was framed, 



124 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

well braced, and the cap sill fastened on. At 
still tide it was floated to its place, and, 
by dint of labor, set upright and guyed. 
Large and heavy oak logs, the tops or 
lighter ends of which being secured inland, 
were then made use of, and the butts raised 
by tackles to a proper height, and by the 
striking of a detent or latch, the ropes were 
released, the logs fell with great force upon 
the caps, and by their impetus this section 
was driven to the depth desired. 

A diagram of the bed of the river, showing 
the depth of the water at different places, 
drawn and painted in colors, by Major Sewall, 
is in the possession of Capt. Joseph Sewall, 
grandson of the original constructor, — who 
now occupies the homestead of his ancestors 
on the hill, — and is by no means an inferior 
production. 

The building of this bridge caused quite a 
sensation in the architectural world at the 
time, and Major Sewell was engaged soon after 



Modern Toivn of York, 125 

to build a similar one between Boston and 
Charlestown. From this first bridge the idea 
of building pier or pile bridges came in vogue. 

This bridge has been repaired from time 
to time. About twenty years ago it was 
almost wholly rebuilt. Nearly all the old 
original piles were cut off, near low-water 
mark, and their tops can be seen at low- tide. 

York river has its source north-westerly, 
and is navigable for six or seven miles from 
its mouth. In a house which formerly stood 
on the hill directly opposite the easterly end 
of this bridge once lived the captain of a 
coasting chebacco-boat or pink-stern fishing- 
smack, which he usually manned all alone 
between York and Boston, and it is said that 
once in a fit of uncontrollable rage, he killed 
his wife by cruelly beating her to death with 
a salt-fish I This story may be apocryphal in 
some of its details, but it has credence suf- 
ficient to be perpetuated from one generation 
t J auother. 



126 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

CENSUS OVEK A CENTUEY AGO. 

The census of the inhabitants, as taken, 
was neither very thorough or correct. There 
were many who were not without their scru- 
ples of its being equally presumptuous in the 
present age as in the days of the Israelites. 
By the census returned, and by estimation^ 
the w^hole population of Maine was, in 1764, 
about twenty-four thousand. York was cal- 
culated to contain two thousand two hundred 
and seventy-seven white inhabitants, and 
fifty-six negroes, comprised in three hundred 
and ninety-seven families, and to have two 
hundred and seventy-two houses. 

In 1850, two thousand nine hundred and 
fifty ; Isles of Shoals, twenty-nine. 

The census of 1873, by actual calculation, 
gives two thousand eight hundred and fifty- 
four inhabitants. This town, it will be thus 
seen, was nearly stationary in population 
from the period in one century to a point 



Modern Totvri of YorJc, 127 

somewhat beyond a similar date in another. 
The recent impetus given to the place is, 
however, likely to considerably increase the 
number of its inhabitants in the future. 



SPIEITS HAUNTED HOUSE. 

Near the south-west corner of the old 
burying-ground is a grave, with head and 
foot stones, between which and lying on the 
grave is a large flat rock, as large as the 
grave itself. The inscription reads thus : — 
" Mary Nasson, wife of Samuel Nasson, died 
August 24, 1774, aged 29 years." No one, 
at least in this town, seems to know anything 
about her origin, death, or even of the sin- 
gular looking grave. No other occupant of 
a grave bearing this cognomen can be found 
in this cemetery, and the name is unknown 
in the to\vn. A great many surmises and 
conjectures have been advanced in regard to 
this matter, in order arrive at the facts, 



128 Ancient City of Gorgeana* 

if there be any, and to clear up the dark 
affair, but nothing definite has ever come out 
of the effort. The writer of this, when a 
youth, living in York, was given to under- 
stand that this stone was placed there to keep 
down a witch that was buried beneath it. 
But this could hardly be true, for numerous 
reasons : — she died too young to entitle her 
to that appellation ; she had been married, 
and witches seldom or never marry ; besides, 
grave-stones abounding in praises of the de- 
ceased would not have been permitted, in 
those times ; and last, but not least, it would 
have been very doubtful, indeed, if the 
powers that were would have allowed, or 
even suffered, her burial in this grave-yard. 
If a vj'dcli, she would have been interred in 
*' the rough sands of the sea, at low-water 
mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in 
twenty-four hours," or on a highway, at the 
junction of three roads. 

An old overgrown two-storied dwelling- 



3Todern Totvn of YorJc, 129 

house formerly occupying the site of the 
present one, now on the corner next south- 
east of the court-house, prior to the year 
1829, was said to have been haunted, or at 
least infested with one evil spirit (not ma- 
terial), who was incarcerated in a designated 
apartment in this house.*' After a certain 
period of years, this spirit was, in the par- 
lance of those days, to be " laid," and per- 
mitted to depart, when it would proceed to 
walk thrice around this burying-yard, and 
evoke the denizen of this grave to join it. 
After this, both were condemned to perform 
a penance by travelling a thousand years on 
the face of this mundane sphere, before 
departing to the realms beyond time into 
eternity. But this spirit, in the mean time, 

* As tliis hundred years will expire August 28, 
1874, a great event may be expected ; such an 
one, probably, if it takes place, as the inhabitants 
of neither this nor any other place will believe, if 
they witness it. 



130 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

having become turbulent and troublesome, 
it was deemed advisable to anticipate the 
hundred years' period that had not then 
expired for the " allaying," and proceed to 
perform that ceremony, which was accord- 
ingly done. This may be the veritable Jeuf 
Errant, who, when seen, is always repre- 
sented as being alone, walking around the 
earth to employ his time, to be in readiness 
for a companion whose bonds to the grave 
are soon to be loosed. 

The grave has not been disturbed within 
the knowledge of any now living, but is in a 
state of great dilapidation. The grounds 
all around it are of a wet and springy nature ; 
the tooth of time and the weather has per- 
ceptibly lessened the dimensions of this 
rock ; and the grave-stones have sunken 
into and lay almost horizontal with mother 
earth. 



3Iodern Toivn of York, 131 

DARK DAYS. 

One of the most memorable dark days of 
the last century took place May 19, 1780. 
In this town it commenced to darken at 
about nine o'clock in the morning, and was 
past twilight before half past ten o'clock. 
Throughout the New England States and 
some adjacent tracts of New York and 
Canada, such was the obscuration that in 
many places people could not sec to read a 
line at mid-day without artificial light. For 
hours it continued to impart to surrounding 
objects a tinge of yellow, and awakened in 
many a breast apprehensions of some im- 
pending calamity. All was wrapped in 
gloom ; the birds became silent, domestic 
fowls retired to their perches, and cocks 
crowed as at break of day. The darkness 
of the following night was so intense that 
many who were benighted and but a little 
way from home, on well-known roads, could 



132 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

not, without extreme difficulty, retrace their 
way to their crwn dwellings. The author, in 
his boyhood, has often conversed with many 
of the oldest inhabitants, — among them were 
Messrs. John Carlisle, William Stacey, Wil- 
liam Tetherly, — all of whom were Revolu- 
tionary pensioners, and they well remem- 
bered the occurrence, and exemplified the 
dense blackness of that night by saying 
" that an object held up near the face could 
no more be seen than a piece of the blackest 
velvet put in close contact with the eyes." 
No astronomical or meteorological cause has 
ever been assigned for this singular phe- 
nomenon. 

Another dark day occurred May 13, 1830, 
but this was caused by an eclipse of the sun, 
at mid-day. 



Modern Toivn of York. 133 

DESCRIPTION OF YORK TRODUCTIONS. 

A traveller through the State of Maine, in 
1781, after returning to London, published 
the following sketch of what he learned 
and saw while in York, and as some of the 
information contained in it is new to those 
now living here, it is highly probable that 
his ideas extended beyond the limits of the 
town, or even the State. 

" The various fruits are in greater perfec- 
tion than in England. The apple, peach, 
and pear are more beautiful, large, and lus- 
cious ; one thousand peaches are often pro- 
duced from one tree, five or six barrels of 
cidcfi- from the fruit of one apple-tree, and 
two or three barrels of perry from that of a 
pear-tree. Cider is the common drink at 
table. The inhabitants have a method of 
purifying cider by frost, and separating the 
-watery part from the spirit, which, being 
secured in proper vessels, and colored by 



134 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

Indian corn, becomes in three months so 
much like ]\Iadeira wine, that Europeans 
drink it without perceiving the difference. 
[This was undoubtedly champagne, in its 
infancy.] 

" They also make peachy and perry ; 
grape, cherry, currant, and many other 
wines, and good beer of bran of wheat, molas- 
ses, pumpkins, spruce, and malt. The spruce 
is the leaves and limbs of the fir-tree ; * their 
malt is made of chets, barley, maize, oats, 
rye, and wheat. 

*' The pumpkin, or pompion, is one of the 
greatest blessings, and held very sacred. It 
is a native of America. From one seed often 
grow forty pumpkins, each weighing from 
forty to sixty pounds, and when ripe of the 
color of a marigold. Each pumpkin con- 
tains five hundred seeds, which, being boiled 
to a jelly, is the Indian infallible cure for the 

* The fir and spruce are here confounded : the 
first is a genus, the other a species. 



Modern Town of YorJc. 135 

strangury. Of its meat are made custards, 
beer, bread, molasses, sauce, vinegar, and on 
Than]j:sgiving days pies, as a substitute for 
what the Blue-laws in Connecticut would 
brand unchristian, or minced pies. Its shell 
or skin serves to cut the hair of the head by, 
which established the term and style called 
pumpkin-shell fashion ! and very useful 
lanterns. 

" There arc no fruits, grains, or trees 
growing in England but are growing in 
New England. The English oak has been 
thought superior to the American, but such 
is not the case, at least in regard to our 
white oak, which is close, elastic, tough, and 
hard as the whalebone dried. The chestnut, 
and black and red oak, are, indeed, much 
inferior to the white oak. The ash, beech, 
butternut, chestnut, elm, hazel, maple, sassa- 
fras, sumach, w^alnut,*'' are the chief timber 

* In enumerating the trees of Maine, no men- 
tion is here made of the pine, which always flour- 



136 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

trees, and grow to an amazing bulk. The 
butternut derives its name from a nut it pro- 
duces, of the shape and size of a pullet's e^^^ 
and contains a meat much larger than an 
English walnut, and tastes like fresh butter. 
It also makes an excellent pickle. The wood 
of this tree produces fine but tender boards ; 
its bark is used for dyeing black, and curing 
cutaneous disorders. In February this tree 
yields a sap, of which molasses, sugar, vine- 
gar, etc., are made.^^ The upland maple tree 
also affords a sap equally good, and both 
saps make a pleasant beverage without boil- 
ing, and the best punch ever drank in the 
State of Maine. 

ished to such an extent, that the appellation of 
Pine Tree State has always been appropriate. 

* This traveller and writer was not a very acute 
observer; else the trees differed in their nature 
from those of the present day. Xo grapes have 
ever been gathered from thorns, or figs from 
thistles. 



Modern Town of York. 137 

" Here are plenty of sheep ; their wool is 
as fine and good as the English. A common 
sheep weighs sixty pounds, and sells for a 
dollar, or four and six pence. The horned 
cattle are not so large as the English, yet 
some have been known to weigh, at six 
years old, one thousand nine hundred pounds 
each, and fat hogs five or six hundred 
pounds. i 

" The whapperknocker is somewhat larger 
than a weazel, and of a beautiful brown red 
color. He lies in the woods, and subsists 
on birds and worms ; is so wild that no man 
can tame him, and as he never leaves his 
home in the day-time, is only to be taken in 
traps in the night. The skins of these ani- 
mals, being very fine, are much sought after 
for making muff's, which are worth from 
thirty to forty guineas apiece ; and ladies are 
very vain in the possession of this small ap- 
purtenance of female habiliment." 



138 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

THE STEVENS CHILD MURDER. 

Some time in the year 1824, Charles Ste- 
vens was tried, in this town, for the murder 
of his son. Murders in those days were 
more rare than at the present time. Such 
an assemblage in York as was present at 
this trial has scarcely been equalled since, 
so great was the interest felt in this crime 
of child-murder. The court-house not being 
spacious enough, the trial took place in the 
Congregational church. So large was the 
attendance, it was necessary to shore up the 
galleries with upright joists to prevent their 
breaking down ; and the building was 
filled to suffocation day after day, through- 
out the trial. The body of the boy was 
found floating either at sea or in Portsmouth 
harbor, nailed up in a box quite too small to 
contain it ; but was forced in by doubling up 
the legs, and tying them with a cord round 



Modern Toivn of YorJc, 139 

the neck. It was said the death-blow was 
struck with a pair of kitchen tongs. 

After a protracted trial, the evidence was 
considered insufficient to convict Stevens. 
After his release he left York for Kittery, 
and went south, and committed some crime, 
for which he was sentenced to a States- 
prison, in which he died before the expira- 
tion of that period. 

MUEPIIY, THE WIFE MURDERER. 

The next murder following that of Stevens, 
in this neighborhood, did not occur in York, 
but created quite as much sensation in the 
town as thougli it had happened there. It 
was of a man named Murphy, living at 
Kennebunkport, who killed his wife in a 
drunken fit, she being beastly drunk at the 
time, and afterwards burned her to death 
on the hearth of his house. (Stoves were 
hardly in vogue at that time.) He was 



140 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

tri^d, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged 
on a given day. Before the time had arrived 
for his execution the then Governor of the 
State died, and there being no one authorized 
to sign the death-warrant, he lay in jail a 
long time, was finally reprieved, and his sen- 
tence was commuted to imprisonment for 
life in the State-prison. But subsequently 
he fell and broke his neck, which should 
have been done for him by the hangman. 

BLACK DINAH PEINCE. 

On the surface of a rock on the hill over- 
looking the mill-dam, and at the intersection 
of three roads, formerly lived an old negress 
called Dinah, in a one-story hut, who was 
thought by some, at that time, — as negroes 
were not so plenty as they now are, — to be 
a very mysterious personage, although noth- 
ing ever occurred during her lifetime, either 
to herself or anybody else, to warrant this 



Modern Totvn of York. 141 

belief. Many rumors of mysterious occur- 
rences were circulated about her, but nothing 
had happened, to the knowledge of either the 
oldest or youngest inhabitant, except that, 
soon after she was first known in York, a 
young child, supposed to be hers, died, and 
that she buried it in two bread- trays, in her 
garden. By some she was held in supersti- 
tious dread, and was called a witch and sor- 
cerer, who could foretell events. It was said 
she was in possession of a weather-pan, 
which, on being hung over her fire, brought 
frightful hurricanes, storms, tempests, whirl- 
winds, and sometimes earthquakes. In 
regard to this, we may well say, " What the 
mind imagines has often more reality for it 
than what it believes." 

She never wished to be introduced to or 
become acquainted with strangers. Chil- 
dren, unaccustomed to black people, being 
scared on seeing her, she would fly into a 
violent passion ; and although very sensitive in 



142 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

regard to being called or thought black, she 
often uttered the expression : " I 'se so brack 
I shame' go nowhere." Whether from bash- 
fulness or fear, her custom was to close the 
door, and peep through the cracks and 
crevices — and these were not few — in the 
door and walls, on the approach of passers- 
by, as though fearing they were coming to 
see her, instead of looking out of the window 
— the architect had vouchsafed her two — or 
the open door. 

Her hut or shanty consisted merely of a 
structure composed of boards, black as Time 
could paint them ; entirely devoid of clap- 
boards without, or a particle of lath or plas- 
tering within. This not being at all tenant- 
able in rainy weather, her time was then spent 
in visiting white acquaintances whom she 
took a fancy to. During the winter months 
she resided on the south side of the river, 
with the family of Mr. Nathaniel Raynes. 
It is not known whether Dinah was a rela- 



Modern Toivn of York, 143 

tive of black Phillis, who also lived with a 
family named Raynes. 

Being of a morose and sullen disposition, 
easily vexed, very sensitive, and suspicious 
of strangers, her circle of acquaintances was 
rather circumscribed. Young people, and 
particularly children not ♦ afraid of her, she 
would entertain and amuse in a pleasing 
manner. In common with most colored 
people, she had the gift of song, which she 
frequently exercised with great fervor. One 
of her songs, chanted with especial unction, 
M'as — 




m 



'Tobacco is an Indian weed; grow up at morn, cut down at ebe, 



But an elder brother, knowing she adapted 
the words to suit herself, told her she didn't 
sing it right; for "tobacco grew, and negroes 
chewed it, in Guinea, but they didn't like to 
be told of it; for negroes also came from that 



144 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

place, and were the first to bring it here." 
He told her the right way to sing it was 

*' Tobacco is a Guinea weed; 
It was the Devil that sowed the seed." 

And the reason they were saved the trouble 
of plantipg it , themselves was, that the 
negroes — whether in Guinea or America — 
were too lazy to do it for themselves, and his 
Satanic majesty performed the task for them, 
thereby saving them both toil and trouble. 

Dinah's abhorrence of a toad or frog was 
well known, and amounted almost to a 
frenzy. "When absent from home, school- 
boys, knowing her weakness in that respect, 
would contrive in some way to squeeze them, 
without killing, under her door or through 
crevices and knot-holes — and these were 
abundant — into her abode, and on returning 
her fears knew no bounds. 

While Dinah, in the waning of her days, 
lived with the Misses Raynes, she seldom 



Modern Toivn of TorJc* 145 

went abroad, and was so rarely seen or heard 
of by those among whom she used to live 
in the town, that it was thought she had 
gone to her long home, from which no trav- 
eller ever returns ; but the knowledge that 
she had not departed this life was ascer- 
tained by a tax-collector, while performing 
the functions of his office, some time between 
the years 1836 and 1838. He says, "I 
called on the Misses Raynes, for their taxes, 
and was ushered into a dark, large, and low 
kitchen, and while awaiting their return a 
long time from another room, where they had 
gone to get the money, I spoke aloud, that 
' I wished they would hurry up,' as the 
' shades of night were falling fast,' and my 
road out to the highway a very blind one, 
w]ien, to my surprise and astonishment, a 
voice, picked and squeaking, answered, ' Dey 
will be out presently.' I looked around the 
room for the owner of the voice, and all I 
could then discern in the dimmed expanse 



14G Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

was what appeared to my vision to be a 
white night-cap hanging on a chair-post. 
The Misses Raynes soon appeared, and by 
their light I saw it was Dinah's cap on 
Dinah's head, and the voice belonged to 
Dinah, who was sitting beside an old James's 
cooking-stove, which was about the same 
color as her face." 

Tradition says : " Some years before her 
death, and about the time she gave up living 
alone on the hill, she disposed of all the 
paraphernalia appertaining to a sorcerer and 
money-digger. In her younger days, the 
islands in York river and the harbor, and ofif 
Portsmouth, particularly the Isles of Shoals, 
were said to contain buried money ; and an 
old negro has often been seen by sailors 
wandering along the shores, but who she 
was, or how she got to or from the islands, 
remains to this day a mystery." 

Before Black Dinah Rollins, who was a 
plebeian devotee of St. John's Church, 



Modern Town of York. 117 



Portsmouth, jNT. H., died, which was about 
the year 1808, she bequeathed to a brother 
of the writer of this, who had been kind to 
her, an *' indicator," "to indicate the location, 
and a " divining-rod," to designate the exact 
spot where the precious metals lie concealed 
that may once have belonged to the York 
Dinah. The indicator consisted of a small 
quantity of metallic mercury, sewed up in 
sections in a piece of black velvet ; and the 
use made of, was, to hold it in a horizontal 
position near the ground supposed to contain 
the treasure, and if any was present agitation 
took place, and the location of the mercury 
became changed. However, the wife of the 
donee, unaware of its immense value and im- 
portance, unwittingly consigned it to the 
flames. The rod resembled a common walk- 
ing-cane, only much longer, with a ferrule 
^at least one quarter of its whole length, 
pointed at the extremity, and made of metal 
resembling silver in appearance. The use 



us Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



made of this was to stick it into the ground, 
and if either silver or gold were present, a 
peculiar sound was produced and a sensation 
felt by the operator, when they came in 
contact. 

Dinah Prince, as before mentioned, was 
fond of children, and to her the writer of this 
is indebted for the first sight of the military, 
or a company of soldiers dressed in uniform. 
He also heard at the same time martial 
music, especially drums, which he detested 
then, and ever since has held in utter abhor- 
rence, as an invention of the arch-fiend. 
This old negro took him in her arms and 
carried him about midway of M'Intire's large 
field, to a wall which then divided it, and sat 
down on it, remarking that she meant to 
keep at a " safe distance " from the booming 
cannon of the artillery, and discharge of guns 
from the infantry ; and ever and anon he 
slid from the wall and ensconced himself 
behind it when the firing became continuous, 



Modern Town of York, 149 

supposing, that the more noise the greater 
the danger. 

The pomp, pride, and ceremony of this 
military display, and the noise produced on 
that day, affected the nerves of Dinah for at 
least a month afterwards. According to her 
expression : 

" Couldn't sleep in her bed ; 
Buzzy, buzzy, in her head ! " 

At one time she received a pension from 
the United States government ; but subse- 
quently had taken refuge in the York alms- 
house, and died there about the year 1840, 
at a very advanced age. Many events that 
occurred during the Revolution she well 
remembered, as if of recent occurrence. 

BETTY POTTER ESTHER BOOKER. 

On the dividing line between York and 
Kittery, this being marked by a stone wall 
extending north-west and south-east, far 



150 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

from any highway, and near a dense forest, 
lived, prior to the year 1832, two women, 
one of whom bore a striking resemblance to 
the description in the Bible of Lucinda, the 
witch of En-dor, who, at Saul's bidding, 
raised up Samuel from his grave. These old 
women, who were called Betty Potter and 
Easter Booker, inhabited a house of which 
the air-line dividing these two towns passed 
directly lengthwise through the centre, con- 
sequently, when Ipng in bed their heads 
were in York and their feet in Kittery. 
Taxes are reckoned j^er cajjita, and by that 
rule they were citizens of York ; but as 
neither one possessed goods or chattels, and 
their dwelling, too, was scarce worth even a 
name, they were exempt from excises. 

They gained a precarious livelihood by 
cultivating a small patch of land, on which 
they raised a few vegetables, and the pick- 
ing and sale of berries, and raising hens. 

A party of boys once rambling in the 



Modern Town of York, 151 

woods, being overtaken by a shower, sought 
shelter in this domicile, and, on observing a 
hole in the roof, where the rain was pouring 
in, and the inmates busily engaged in boring 
holes in order to let the water run down 
into the cellar as fast as it came through the 
opening in the roof, the following colloquy 
ensued : 

Writer. — Why don't you repair that hole 
in the roof. Miss Potter ? 

Mhs Potter. — Can't do it ; it rains so. 

W. — Why don't you do it when it doesn't 
rain ? 

Miss P. — No need of it then. 

Youthful as we were, this struck us as the 
quintessence of shiftlessness. Betty died 
some time ago, and Esther, soon after, got 
tired of living alone and disappeared, and ere 
this, has doubtless joined her once earthly 
companion 

" In the realms beyond the stars, 
Past the gate which Death unbars." 



152 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES. 

The house where we graduated stood on 
the same spot now occupied by one of more 
modern architecture, situated just behind the 
Court-house and Congregational church. It 
was a small one-storied, clapboarded, wooden 
structure, rather dilapidated, with a chimney 
in one end nearly overtopping the door. A 
fire-place, wherein was burned whole cord- 
^yood, was employed in lieu of stoves or other 
heating appliances. Two rows of long 
benches, with desks to match, filled up all 
the space, except what was occupied by the 
teacher and his desk, and a strip across the 
room for classes to recite in. 

In the winter of 1838 this schoolhouse 
was burned down, and the present one was 
built on the same spot, and on about the 
same plane of architecture, the following year. 

This old-fashioned " district school " has, 
within the memory of very many persons 



Modern Toivn of York. 153 

now living, been the prevailing type of 
schoolhouse and paraphernalia, and, indeed, 
abundance of specimens of this may yet be 
found. There is no wall-map, no globe, no 
apparatus of any kind, unless an unpainted 
water-pail accompanied by a tin dipper may 
be called such for illustrating hydraulics and 
hygienics at once. As for a school library or 
any real appurtenances, as well expect to 
find a gTand piano growing in the woods. 
Each pupil had an arithmetic, a slate, a 
grammar, a spelling-book, and possibly an 
atlas and geography ; and very likely there 
was a ferule, a rattan, or even a cowhide, 
within reach of the pedagogue's hand. 

During the past period in the history of 
common schools, some of the questions pro- 
pounded and mixed up with what was then 
called instruction would seem now perfectly 
absurd. An example may show the differ- 
ence. A teacher, who taught little else, once 
asked a class in grammar, " What is 7iou- 



loi Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

se?ise?" and the answer given was, "Bolting 
the door with a boiled carrot." The same 
teacher gave out for parsing and analyzation, 
*' The superfluity of the sugar superanimates 
the tea, and renders it altogether obnoxious 
to my taste." The answers to these pro- 
found and ambiguous queries were not defi- 
nite enough to be remembered. 

Just before the close of a term, particularly 
if a change of teachers was contemplated, it 
was customary to have an examination in 
order to record the progress made since the 
last term ; and at this, in order to diversify or 
add zest to the occasion, it was required of a 
portion of the scholars that were supposed to 
have made any advancement at all in their 
studies to either "speak a piece" on some 
subject the teacher might suggest, furnish a 
sample or specimen of chirography, or write 
a " composition " on any topic the scholar 
chose, for the inspection of a prudential 
committee who were to be present on the 



Modern Town of Yo7'k. 155 

occasion, to judge for themselves whether 
the cause of education was gaining or losing 
ground, and thereby determine in their 
minds whether a change of teacher was 
expedient. The following will show what a 
*' composition " is, but whether its intent is to 
exemplify logic or rhetoric, or what was the 
plot, scheme, theme, or even intent, we sub- 
mit it to others to determine. It appeared 
at the closing of a fall term in 1831. — "The 
elaboration of conception is the surest per- 
ambulation to the recognition of cognition, 
which being perfectly delineated by perme- 
ating the realms of futurity ; therefore, it 
becomes necessary to resort to indiscriminate 
transcendentalism." 



METHODIST CHURCH. 

Previous to 1828, Methodist preachers had 
filled appointments in York. The celebrated 
Rev. John Newland Maffitt was instrumental 



156 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

in efforts to found a church in this town. 
In January, 1829, a class was formed, con- 
sisting of seventy-three members, by the 
preachers on the circuit. Revs. J. Spalding, 
Gershom F. Cox, Bannister, Adkins, Fenno, 
and Hills, were among the first preachers. 

Meetings were held sometimes at school- 
houses, and at others at dwelling-houses in 
the neighborhood. February 28, 1831, the 
people were incorporated into a legal society. 
As they grew in strength, efforts were made 
towards building a church. A proposition 
to lease a piece of ground of the Congrega- 
tional, or First Parish, was made to that 
society, but was rejected. The Judicial 
Court was removed from York in 1833,-^ 
and the use of the Court-house reverted to 
the First Parish. 

* York was made a shire town in 1716, although 
ISIaine did not become a State till 1820, but all the 
County courts, since 1833, have been held in 
Alfred. 



3Iodern Totvn of York, 157 

At a parish meeting, in 1833, the use of 
the Court-house was granted to the Metho- 
dists on the Sabbath for four months, pro- 
vided " they do not disturb the peace or 
interrupt any other religious meetings;" the 
temperance society having the privilege of 
holding meetings there Sabbath evenings 
whenever they may order or direct. A piece 
of land was finally purchased, and the church 
building raised August 30-31, 1833. Octo- 
ber 15, 1834, it \vas dedicated by Rev. Ger- 
shom F. Cox. He preached from the text, 
Daniel ii. 44 : ^^And in the days of these 
Mngs shall the God of heaven set up a king- 
dom, which shall never he destroyed ; and 
the hingdoni shall not he left to other people, 
hut it shall hreah in pieces and consume all 
these kingdoms^ and it shall stand forever.'" 
From that time to the present Methodist 
services have been sustained here. Rev. 
Reuel Kimball is the pastor at the present 
time (1873). They have a neat church 



158 Ancient City of Gorgeana» 

building and a comfortable parsonage. The 
estimated value of both is four thousand nine 
hundred dollars. 

A Methodist society was formed at Cape 
Neddock school-house, May 18, 1822, con- 
sisting of Moses Brewster, Hannah Clark, 
George Norton, John Norton, Oliver Preble, 
George Phillips, Timothy Ramsdell, Obadiah 
Stone, Henry Talpey, Jonathan Talpey, Rich- 
ard Talpey, and Samuel Welsh, and a cer- 
tificate served on the clerk of the First Parish 
of the above-named fact, in order to exempt 
from payment of ministerial tax to said par- 
ish ; but there is no record that this society 
w^re ever embodied in a church, or had any 
existence as a distinct society any great 
length of time. They united with the Bap- 
tists in building their church in 1823, and in 
the differences that arose as to the control 
of it, they probably went to pieces, and some 
of their members united with the Baptists. 

The Methodist Society at Scotland was 



Modern Toivn of Yorh. 159 

gathered about the year 1830. In this year 
the ConfercLce sent Rev. George Webber to 
preach there, and meetings were held in the 
school-house, and some religious interest was 
aroused. Their meeting-house was built in 
1833. Owing to the weakness of the society, 
preaching has not been continuously sus- 
tained. Their last minister was Rev. B. F. 
Pease. During 1872 they were without 
preaching; present membership, about thirty. 
A comfortable parsonage belongs to the 
society. 

BAPTIST CHURCHES. 

There is a Calvinist Baptist society at 
Cape Neddock. 

There is also a Freewill Baptist church 
and society on the road to Scotland, about a 
mile from the post-office. Not long since 
its name was changed, and it is now called 
a " Christian Society." It is an offshoot. 



ino Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

or infringement, or improvement on the 
old-fashioned Freewill Baptist form of wor- 
ship. Polders Peter Young and Mark Fer- 
nald formerly preached here, though they 
were always identified with the P'reewill 
Baptists. The present pastor is Rev. Charles 
Goodwin. The original building, which was 
built sixty or seventy years ago, is still in 
good order, and the society is well sustained. 
Elder George Moore Payne and Dr. Benja- 
min Colby were both connected with the 
Freewill Baptist and Christian Churches. 

OTHER SECTS AND RELIGIONS. 

In contradistinction from the principal 
denominations were a few others ; and some 
of the names associated Avith them are still 
remembered by their survivors. Capt. David 
Wilcox, who kept the only public house in 
York village, for many years, opposite the 
Court-house, was a Unitarian in belief; Capt. 



Modern Totvn of York. 161 

Thomas Savage and Squire Alexander M'ln- 
tire, Universalists. Solomon Brooks, Esq., 
and other prominent men of the time, also 
figured conspicuously in these movements. 

The sect called Cochranites, were the fol- 
lowers of one John Cochran, a crack-brained 
fellow, of low degree, who taught that mira- 
cles could be wrought, devils cast out, the 
sick healed by the laying on of hands, the 
lame caused to walk, the blind to see, the 
deaf to hear, etc. ; and who, after practising 
all kinds of vicious conduct, was indicted 
and tried for his crimes, among a portion of 
his admirers. In York a few meetings were 
held with a view to found a sect, but failed 
for want of support, as the novelty of the 
scheme soon ceased to be considered any 
thing but presumption. The town has gen- 
erally been quite conservative on religious 
topics, the " new lights " in belief having 
failed to penetrate to any considerable extent 
into this region. 



162 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

FIRST IRISH IX YORK. 

The first time the writer ever saw Irish 
people was in the summer of 1830. The 
party consisted of about twenty individuals 
of both sexes, who came here in a vessel, 
and one of their number, a man, was sick, 
and died a few days after they landed. They 
established their household in an old boat or 
sail house, which was hastily fitted up for 
their occupancy, and was situated then close 
to the south-westerly end of Sewall's bridge, 
and on the opposite side of the road where 
David Sewall's sash and blind factory now is. 
Our people were amazed at their singular 
appearance, and their costume and language 
excited great laughter among crowds of men 
and boys who were continually at their heels, 
for they invariably sallied forth in squads 
and parties. 

They landed at Emerson's wharf, and, 
after moving their luggage away and estab- 



Modern Toivn of YorJc. 1G3 

lisliing quarters for their sick companion and 
themselves, they came back to the wharf — 
it being high tide — and commenced fishing 
in a very novel manner, without the aid of 
either bait or hooks. Their method was in 
this wise : — a common two or three ounce 
phial, tied to the end of a string, was 
lowered into and dangled and jerked through 
the water, to a greater or less depth, and if 
any one was so lucky as to inveigle or cap- 
ture a one or two inch minnow into this 
receptacle and land it on the wharf, the 
whole party would set up a shout, intermin- 
gled with their inexplicably confused jargon, 
that out-Babeled Babylon. This result, to 
them, seemed as astonishing and extraordi- 
nary as though it had been a ten thousand 
pound whale. 

Another act of theirs completely amazed 
those of our Protestant towns-people who 
witnessed it. The sick man died, and, to 
carry out the fashion of their creed, the corpse 



164 Ancient City of Gorgeann. 



lay in state nearly one whole day and night. 
In the centre of the room in which he died a 
catafalque or throne was improvised of old 
barrels and boxes, with which the apartment 
abounded, and after being covered with the 
remnants of sails, upon this the deceased 
M-as placed, with face and feet exposed to the 
gaze of all who could see him, by the light 
that entered the open door, as all the win- 
dows, if there were any, had been darkened, 
to give full effect to the lighted candles that 
were burning at the head and feet of the 
corpse. Clay pipes, pieces of tobacco, and 
open papers of snuff, were lying on both 
sides of the body. Xo drinking, waking, or 
carousing took place, nor extreme paroxysms 
of grief were manifested, as in later years is 
indulged in on similar occasions by the same 
class of people. This exhibition continued 
a nine days' wonder, no one living here ever 
having before witnessed the like. 



Modern Totvn of YorJc, ig5 



ANCIENT AND MODERN SCALAWAGS. 

Isaac Davis, better known as Black Isaac, 
the fiddler, was once a slave in Virginia,' 
according to his own account of himself, and 
escaped from his master. He came from a 
place called Eaton's Neck, on Long Island, 
New York, and wandered into Maine, and 
then became acquainted with his lovely 
spouse, Chloe Ward, and married her. They 
had fourteen ebony piccaninnies. Isaac and 
Chloe are both dead, and the fourteen cheru- 
bim have left this world and become as many 
cherubs in another sphere, or, in other words, 
are dead also, and the family name and 
every thing connected with it have become 
extinct. He invariably attended York mili- 
tary trainings with his fiddle, and although 
his skill in music was limited to a few tunes, 
he was in demand all day, at three cents I 
dance. His favorite theme, which he both 
sang and played with great vehemence, was. 



ICC Aticient City of Gorgeana. 



-When I am (load and gone to roost." 
He lived and died in a small house about 
half a mile west of Cape Ncddock viUage. 

A mulatto, named Tamar Ward, and her 
sister, Chloe Ward, were daughters of Caesar 
Ward, who was once a slave, and known as 
C^sar Talpey, he once belonging to a Mr. 
Talpey. The mother of both Chloe and 
Tamar was also a slave, and owned by a 
Weare famUy at Cape Neddock. Tamar, 
though never married, had a daughter who 
was called Rosanna Frances Basset Ward. 
Tamar took great pride in adorning the 
person of her daughter in habiliments of 
white, with a great array of variegated rib- 
bons, and when she appeared abroad her 
whole contour bespoke her the observed of 
all observers. Both Tamar and Chloe died, 
not long since, in the York alms-house. 

Two grim-visaged and dark-complexioned ^ 
individuals, as dusky-faced as even Vulcan 
himself, and apparently as inseparable as the 



Modern Toivn of YorJc. 1G7 

Siamese twins, but not so sallow and mum- 
mefied in their faces, were often seen to- 
gether, especially in summer, shuffling along 
through the streets of the village part of 
York, each bearing a huge pack or bundle on 
her back, which at the present day might 
be mistaken for Grecian-bend. In a season 
of snow, they employed a small hand-sled, 
on which to transport their goods and lug- 
gage. These two celebrities, Hephzibah 
Cane and Mary or Polly Austin, were said to 
be of the " feminine gender, or persuasion." 
Hephzibah was born in Kittery, Maine. 
Her sister Dorcas married a man named 
Austin, who lived in the woods near Scit- 
uate,* in York, and these were the parents 
of her companion Polly. 

Hephzibah, and, for aught all that is 
known, Polly also, were said to have deal- 
ings with familiar spirits, and, consequently, 

* This comprises School District No. 12. 



168 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

were feared and shunned by those who knew 
no better than to think so ; at any rate, very 
few people desired their company, whether 
this were true or otherwise. On this 
account, many a time the younger portion of 
the community were superstitiously alarmed 
on their appearance, although they never 
were known to molest any one. But no 
sooner were they supposed to be out of 
hearing, than the shout went up, " There 
goes Hip. Cane and Poll Ostin ! " Unluckily, 
once they Avere within hearing distance of 
this announcement, and, seeing Hephzibah 
drop her bundle and run towards us, the 
children fled for refuge into the schoolhouse. 
She, to their horror, followed, came to the 
door, and inquired for the teacher, to whom 
she related her grievances and solicited re- 
dress, which she obtained by the teacher 
reprimanding them in her presence, after 
being ordered to their seats, although the 
limits of their meridian intermission had 



Modern Town of York* 169 

not fully expired. This admonition they 
supposed was the finale or denouement of 
the whole affair, but they were mistaken. 
Miss Cane planted her gambadoed and 
brogued pedal extremities firmly on the 
threshold of the inner door, and facing us, 
both hands grasping the door-case, after 
asking the teacher if she could give her " a 
chaw of backey" (tobacco), uttered the fol- 
lowing: "Scribes, Pharisees, and Hypo- 
crites, I could keep a better school than 
this!" and immediately joined her compan- 
ion who was waiting for her at the door, and 
both went on their way. Her meaning was, 
undoubtedly, that she herself in keeping 
would maintain a better discipline, and dis- 
pense etiquette among scholars in order to 
teach them to practise civility even to scala- 
wags moving in her sphere. 

Hephzibah and her sister Dorcas always 
resided together. The former has been dead 
a long time ; Polly, about six years. 



170 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

PRIMITIVE AND INFANT SCHOOLS. 

Somewhere about the years 1827-9, Miss 
Mary Jacobs had a school at her house on 
the hill at the north-easterly end of Sewall's 
bridge. The school was kept in summer in 
the kitchen, where, while in the same room 
learning was being dispensed, her sister was 
performing the functions of laundress, or, as 
dinner-time approached, the culinary art was 
in full blast. In cold weather, her parlor 
was used, which contained the teacher's bed- 
ridden mother, who was awaiting the call to 
a quieter, if not a better place than where she 
breathed her last. Nothing of an ornamental 
nature was attempted, the branches were sim- 
ply arithmetic., reading, spelling, and writing. 
The tuition fee was, when paid in cash, six 
cents per week ; but coffee, sugar, tea, or 
any article of food or the necessaries of life, 
were taken in barter, and were just as accept- 
able as cash, and on as favorable terms. 



3Iodern Totvn of Yorh, 171 

An Infant School was instituted, as a sort 
of experiment, under the auspices of Solomon 
Brooks, Esq.,* and others, previous to the 
year 1831. Miss Maria Champncy, of New 
Ipswich, N. H., was the instructor; Miss 
Elizabeth Clark, assistant ; the writer was 
assistant, and also chorister of the vocal 
department, of which this was a very promi- 
nent portion of the school. This mode of 
instruction was similar to the Kindergarten 
method, but on a very limited scale, viz. : 
by the use of object-teaching aids, with 
astronomical, arithmetical, geographical, geo- 
metrical, and other apparatus, which brought 
in use an abacus or numerical frame, a globe, 
hanging maps, and an orrery (of antique con- 
struction, hung up by a string), all of which 
were new and novel, in this town, as was 
also the mode of teaching. 

The following are some of the instruc- 
tors of the Common Schools since the year 
1824 : William Harris, Edgar M'Intu-e, Mas- 



172 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

ter Cape, Howard Moody, Misses Elizabeth 
Lunt and Lydia Smith. 

SHOWER OF METEORS. 

Near the close of the year 1833, in No- 
vember, occurred a phenomenon never before 
witnessed in this quarter. Soon after mid- 
night on the morning of the thirteenth, the 
meteors, called falling stars, were observed 
to be unusually frequent, and after four 
o'clock the heavens presented one of the 
most sublime and extraordinary appearances 
that cen be conceived. Imagination can 
hardly picture anything to exceed, or even 
equal it. Small bodies of surpassing bril- 
liancy, apparently as numberless as the stars 
in the firoiament, were seen flying in all 
directions through a clear, unclouded sky, 
leaving long, luminous trains behind. Often, 
one larger and more brilliant than the rest 
would sweep across the heavens, nearly from 



3Iodern Toivn of YorJc* 173 

horizon to horizon, producing a light similar 
to a flash of lightning ; at the same time mil- 
lions were diverging from the zenith, and 
scintillating through their descent, until lost 
below the horizon. In whatever direction 
the eye was turned, the scene could not be 
compared more aptly to anything than a 
shower of fixe falling to the earth. Thou- 
sands of individuals, scattered over the vast 
portion of North America stretching from 
Nova Scotia to Mexico, witnessed the sub- 
lime spectacle. As daylight advanced, the 
meteors were less frequent and began to 
disappear ; but some were seen as long as 
the stars were visible. 



CENSUS OF YOEK. 

The census of York, at the present time, 
according to statistics furnished by Jeremiah 
S. Putnam, M. D., is about two thousand 
eight hundred and fifty-four inhabitants. 



174 Ancient City of Gorgeana. 

The sexes are about equally divided — there 
being only a slight predominance in favor of 
the female sex. About six hundred and fifty 
males over twenty-one years of age are enti- 
tled to vote. There is only one colored per- 
son — a negress, in her teens. The town 
contains five hundred houses, and two hun- 
dred and forty farms. 

York, although lying largely upon the sea- 
coast, with a good harbor, is more of an 
agricultural than a commercial place. A few 
small craft are employed in fishing, and in 
summer about a dozen small schooners in 
coasting and freighting brick, hay, wood, &c. 
The principal export is hay, of which from 
one to two thousand tons are sent away 
yearly. Huckleberries, which were always 
abundant in former times, have become a 
specialty in their season. 

The area is about fifty square miles, geo- 
graphically divided into fifteen school dis- 
tricts, viz.: 1. Centre; 2. Raynes' Neck; 



Modern Town of York. 175 

3. South Side; 4. Scotland; 5. Brixham ; 
6. Beech Ridge ; 7. (United with 5) ; 8. 
North Village ; 9. Ground Root Hill, West ; 
10. Ground Root Hill, East; 11. Cape Ned- 
dock, East; 12. Scituate ; 13. Cider Hill; 
14. Pine Hill; 15. Cape Neddock. 

MANUFACTURES. 

The manufactures in York are very limited, 
and have never to any great extent occupied 
the attention of the people. Messrs. J. 
Chase & Son's woollen mill, at the outlet of 
Chase's Pond, manufactures a limited amount 
of flannel and fulled cloth, principally for 
producers, who furnish their own wool and 
yarn. Numerous saw and shingle mills cut 
considerable quantities of lumber. 

Messrs. Norton & Lcavitt, on York river, 
between the two bridges, manufacture an 
excellent quality of brick, which finds a 
ready sale in Boston and elsewhere. They 



176 Aticient City of Gorgeana. 

have commenced an extensive business, 
erected a large steam engine, and built a 
commodious wharf. The same firm have 
purchased the Barrell mill-pond, containing 
about twenty acres, and intend to rebuild 
the dam, in order to exclude the salt water, 
and engage in the production and shipping 
of ice. Vessels can be laden with great 
facility at the side of this dam. 

Should the contemplated railroad be built 
in the right place, and no endeavor be made 
to shun that portion of the town from which 
it would derive the most business, the trade 
with Boston and Portland now carried on 
by coasting vessels might be diverted to it. 
With such facilities of connection no doubt 
manufactories would also be established. 
Adding such advantages to the beauties 
nature has bestowed upon it, York might 
resume its place among the most thriving 
towns in New England. 



3Iodern Toivn of YorJc, 177 

Henry Moulton & Company manufacture 
all kinds of ladders, steps, revolving clothes- 
dryers, etc. 

David Sewall, at the end of Se wall's 
bridge, manufactures doors, blinds, etc. 

SEA-SIDE KESOKTS. 

Beyond the Long Sands Beach is a prom- 
ontory, at the extreme end of which is the 
York Nubble, before alluded to. Near but 
beyond this beach, on this high cape, is the 
Bowden House, of moderate dimensions, and 
several private summer cottages, affording a 
good sea view. 

Midway of the Long Sands Head is the 
Sea Cottage, kept by Mr. Charles A. Grant. 
The beach here for riding and driving is not 
excelled anywhere ; and although the view to 
the east is obstructed by the Nubble, and 
that to the west by the eastern point form- 



178 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 

ing York harbor, yet it is a beautiful place, 
affording a fine view of the ocean and Boon 
Island, Under the management of ^Ir. 
Grant, who is kind, genial, and large- 
hearted, the Sea Cottage will long be consid- 
ered a favorite resort. 

Here the Atlantic Ocean may be seen in 
its grandest phases and in all its fitful moods ; 
and here the toil-worn invalid inhales fresh 
vitality and strength, with every breath, from 
the invigorating sea-breeze, which cools the 
ardor of the hottest summer sun. 

There is also the Cape Xeddock House, a 
place long known, kept by M. C. Freeman, 
which, although not a sea-side resort, de- 
serves especial mention. Let the traveller on 
his way from Portsmouth to Portland once 
stop there, and he will ever after " time it" 
so as to stop again and again. 



Modern Toivn of York, 179 

SHIPPING COASTING VESSELS. 

Some forty years ago, the shipping to and 
from this port was considerable. Edward 
A. Emerson, Esq., had a ship-yard on the 
declivity at the end of the " Grow" house, 
near the wharf still bearing his name. At 
one time a vessel of larger dimensions than 
was usually built there, was constructed under 
Shipbuilder Graves, of Kittery; and on being 
launched, was christened, by dashing a bottle 
of wine against its bows, as it slid into the 
water, and calling it " Agamenticus." 

Coasting at that time between Boston and 
Portsmouth was quite extensive. As rail- 
roads were unknown and stage-fares expen- 
sive, advantage was taken of this mode of 
conveyance by almost all travellers, especially 
servants, going from or returning home on a 
visit, as this was the only means within the 
scope of their purse. They were expected to 
provide their own subsistence ; and many a 
voyager, alas ! after laying in his or her stock 



180 Ancient City of Gorgeana, 



of more, even, than was thought requisite, 
has found the vessel, by stress of weather or 
adverse winds, diverted from her course, and 
the voyage occupying more days than it should 
have occupied hours, in reaching its desti- 
nation. In such an emergency, access was 
obtained to the skipper's larder, to prevent 
suffering and avert starvation. 

SLOOP-WRECK CAUSE — VERDICT. 

On the highest point of Stage Neck, which 
extends into the sea, a temporary light was 
sometimes hoisted on an upright pole, about 
fifteen feet high. One dark night a sloop ran 
on these rocks, and was wrecked. A sur- 
vivor, on being questioned about the catas- 
trophe, said, "The vessel struck, turned over 
on her side, and the skipper and another 
barrel of whiskey rolled overboard." 

" Verdict. — We find that the deceased fell from 
mast-head, and was killed; he rolled overboard, 
and was drowned ; he floated ashore, and froze to 
death, and the rats eat him up aUve." 



THE 



MARSHALL HOUSE. 



" When waves come roiling to the shore : 
One more, one more, one more, one more ! 
And never ceasing is the roar, 
When waves come rolling to the shore." 



AT 

YORK BEACH AND HARBOR. 

— ^O^'^^iE^^O'^ — 

The Marshall House, which was first 
opened in 1871, and has sinco been very 
much enlarged, is now in successful opera- 
tion. This edifice is located on the south- 
westerly promontory at York Harbor, Maine, 
at its very mouth, on an elevated point of 
land, commanding an ocean and inland 
scenery unsurpassed on the Atlantic sea- 
board. It comprises two fronts of one hun- 
dred feet each, four stories high, with a base- 
ment and large addition in the rear, and a 
veranda, twelve feet wide, encircling the 
whole building. It has upwards of one hun- 



184 Modern Town of York, 

dred rooms, with all modern conveniences 
and improvements, and it is substantially 
built in every respect. It stands on a high 
cape or peninsula, which might almost be 
termed an island, being connected with the 
main land by a narrow beach, which, in vio- 
lent south-east storms, is entirely submerged. 

The house itself possesses every improve- 
ment incident to a first-class hotel : spacious 
parlors, a large, cool dining-room, reception 
and reading rooms, while the suites and 
single rooms are each perfect in themselves, 
carpeted, and furnished tastefully. Every- 
thing is fresh and new. A post-office is 
attached to the house, a telegraph office 
is within a convenient distance. A livery 
stable is in proximity, where stylish and safe 
teams can be obtained, with abundant~j*oom 
for the accommodation of horses and car- 
riages belonging to either permanent board- 
ers or transient guests. The bathing facili- 



Marshall House. 185 

ties are excellent, this beach being one of 
the safest in the world. 

Across this beach and island was once the 
great thoroughfare from the wilds of Maine 
to Massachusetts. The house stands directly 
midway the highway travelled by the big- 
wigs and nabobs of the seventeenth century. 
Could they return to this locality, in their 
then simplicity, and see this noble structure 
astride their path, what would they say, or 
what would be their emotions ! 

The location of this house is near the cen- 
tre of the island, on its highest elevation, 
and a biscuit can be tossed from the piazza 
on each of its opposite sides into deep navi- 
gable waters. York river, available for all 
useful purposes of navigation, flows in the 
rear, and partially in front of the house at 
high tide. There are some half a dozen or 
more islands in this river near its mouth. 



186 Modern Town of York. 

which produce abundance of huckleberries, 
and are resorted to from far and near. An 
ancient savan writes of them : " They are 
inhabited by the people that live there." 
But no one at the present day remembers 
of their ever being inhabited at all. 

The scenery inland is really of the finest 
known. Seaward, the Atlantic Ocean can 
be seen for the distance of many miles. 

The " Short Sands," a firm, hard beach, 
lie immediately in front of the house, so 
sheltered by projecting points that the heavy 
sea-swells never interfere with bathing or 
boating, yet the waves are of sufficient mag- 
nitude to send up the 

" Ceaseless murmuring of the distant sea, 
"With all its spirit-stirring minstrelsy. 
Upon the winding shore." 

Boulders and ledges are scattered about upon 



Marshall Mouse* 187 

the shores in inextricable confusion, creating 
a picturesqueness delightful to the eye of the 
beholder. In close proximity is a magnifi- 
cent grove, where the lover of solitude can 
drink his fill, and excursionists and picnic 
parties find enjoyment amid the cool shades 
and sequestered nooks. Near this grove is 
Roaring Rock, one of those strange formations 
that the coast of Maine alone presents. The 
musical reverberations from this rock fall at 
all times with a pleasant rhythm on the air, 
while in storms the "roaring" is terrific. 

An enthusiastic admirer of the beautiful, 
who spent a portion of the second season at 
this house, could compare its pleasures to 
naught else than Montegue's " Mansion of 
Happiness on the Island of Tranquil De- 
lights." 

From the spacious cupola an unlimited 
sea-stretch can be obtained, reaching from 



188 Modern Town of York. 

Brodboat * and Kittery harbors on the south 
to Cape Porpoise on the north-east, while 
Cape Ann, the Isles of Shoals, — a great 
summer resort, nearly twelve miles distant 
south-east, — Boon Island (on which is built 
a light-house at great cost, and w^hich is due 
east, nine miles), York ledge, and other 
points of interest are plainly visible, and 
make up the immediate offing. 

An agreeable drive or walk takes the 
pleasure-seeker to Long Beach, two miles in 
length, pronounced by tourists to be the 

*The origin and also the orthography of this 
name or word is uncertain. In books and records 
it is spelled Braboat, Broadboat, Braveboat, and 
many reasons are given. The latter is undoubt- 
edly the most significant, and the local pronun- 
ciation is as if spelled Bra'hoat. It is open to 
the sea, and requires a brave boat to cross it in 
stormy weather. The king's ferry, in early times, 
crossed it near the ocean. 



Marshall House, 189 

finest beach on the Atlantic coast. Near this 
beach is York Nubble, and three miles east- 
ward is Baldhead Cliff, composed of two noted 
headlands, reaching far into the sea, with an 
unobstructed perpendicular height of over 
one hundred feet. Indeed the scenery is 
grand and delightful : hill, lake, mountain, 
and valley, vieing with each other to lend 
additional charms to the beauty of the land- 
scape. Oftentimes upwards of three hun- 
dred sail of vessels can be counted, proceed- 
ing up or down the coast. 

The facilities for fishing and gunning can- 
not be excelled. From the rocks that line 
the shores one can angle for the cod and 
haddock, or by taking a boat, scores of 
which are in constant attendance, add to the 
enjoyment of the epicures and amateur dis- 
ciples of Izaak Walton, and the pleasures 
of the sail. Sea-fowl cover the shores and 
marshes, or if the sportsman desires forest 



190 3Iodern Torvn of Toric, 

game, a short ride will take him to the 
woods, where birds of all descriptions may 
be found in profusion. 

The temperature of this island is never 
uncomfortable or violently hot, even during 
the " heated term." The thermometer for 
the last two summers has averaged from 
seventy-two to seventy-five degrees, not 
being higher except for about an hour or two 
for only a few days, when it indicated eighty- 
two degrees. 

On the north-easterly promontory — oppo- 
site that on v,-hich the Marshall House is 
built — are a few old wooden houses, which 
were built more than a hundred years ago, 
and are still occupied. A curious fact was 
witnessed in one of them, not many years 
since, in the dimness of the light which 
was emitted through the glass of the win- 
dows. The information received in regard to 



Marshall House, 191 

the cause was that the continued action of 
the sand blown against it caused this opacity, 
and in attempting to discern objects outside, 
we were reminded of the allusion " seeing 
through a glass darkly," or of " seeing by 
faith f and not by sight. ^^ 

York Village is a beautiful place, with 
cool and shady streets, pleasant and tasteful 
dwellings, and an intelligent community. 
There are three churches ; and as this was 
the ancient city of Gorgeana, many objects 
of interest to the antiquarian are to be found 
on every hand, while the history of this 
locality is filled with legend and tradition. 

The means of access are easy. A new 
omnibus connects with the morning train 
at the Portsmouth depot, and returns upon 
the arrival of the 2 : 30 afternoon train from 
Boston ; and as York is but a comparatively 
short distance from Boston, gentlemen are 



192 Modem Town of YovJc, 

able to arrange to transact their business 
in Boston during the day and be with 
their families at night. A sure connection 
with all trains is a desideratum at once 
appreciated. 

Here are attractions for those in search of 
health or pleasure, either permanent, tran- 
sient, or for the season, which compare 
favorably with those at Cape May or Long 
Branch. The opportunities afforded for 
fishing, bathing, hunting, and sight-seeing 
are such as will fully meet the most sanguine 
expectations of any visitor. The increasing 
popularity of the place with each added year 
affords the amplest evidence on this point. 

A contemplated railroad is being surveyed, 
which, when built, according to the present 
location, will leave passengers considerably 
less than a mile distant from the Marshall 
House. • 



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